“Roma” faced the Basque club “Athletic” as guests in the Europa League quarter-final return match and suffered their first defeat in 2025.
In fact, the Romans had the opportunity to continue the competition as they won the first match 2:1 thanks to a goal from Eldor Shomurodov.
However, the game in Spain started extremely poorly for Claudio Ranieri's team. Experienced defender Mats Hummels was sent off in the 11th minute. The German player initially passed the ball to the opponent and then attempted to rectify his mistake by tackling him. The result was a foul, a last resort, and a red card.
“Athletic” defeated the Romans, who played with one less player, 3:1. Eldor Shomurodov came on the field in the 61st minute. After the match, our legionnaire shared his thoughts.
- Playing with ten men for 80 minutes is very difficult. “Athletic” is a strong team. We gave our all and fought with all our strength. We regret the result. The fans came all the way here.
This is football, and everyone makes mistakes in it. We fought until the end for Hummels, but we conceded a goal in the last minute of the first half. This was a psychologically heavy blow.
Even then, we fought until the end, unfortunately, it didn’t work out. Now we have to focus all our attention on the championship games.
- Is it possible to achieve more even with ten men?
- Yes, of course. Even when we were losing 0:1, we had the opportunity to score. However, it becomes very difficult when you are left with ten men on the field.
- Did Hummels apologize?
- Yes, he did. This is football; we all make mistakes. We are united with him.
- How is it to start everything over after such a defeat?
- We have our next game against “Cagliari” in two days. We need to try to qualify for the European cups. Even if it’s a small chance, we have to do our best.
We are like one family. We need to continue what we have been doing so far and fight until the end. There are still many games left in the championship. We will see what the result will be in the end.
Eldor Shomurodov has participated in a total of 27 matches this season in Serie A, the Coppa Italia, and the Europa League, scoring five goals and providing three assists. Out of these effective results, two goals and one assist came specifically in the Europa League.
