One of Europe's major clubs, "Roma," faced its most dramatic match of the current season against Spain's "Athletic." After winning the first leg 2-1, the Romans found themselves in an unexpected situation in the return match.
The fate of the match was largely tied to "Roma"'s experienced defender Mats Hummels. In the 8th minute of the match, the defender made a significant mistake, handing the ball to the opponent. Trying to rectify his mistake quickly, Hummels was penalized with a red card for a foul against the opponent and was sent off. This incident completely disrupted "Roma"'s plans, forcing the team to play almost the entire match with one player less.
Just a few minutes before the end of the first half, "Roma" conceded a crucial goal, negatively impacting the team's psychological state. In the second half, the team continued to fight, but they could not achieve the desired result.
After the match, Eldor Shomurodov supported Mats Hummels in an interview with journalists:
- Playing with ten men for eighty minutes is very difficult. “Athletic” is a strong team. We gave our all, we fought with all our strength. We regret the result. The fans came all the way here.
This is football, and everyone makes mistakes. We fought to the end for Hummels, but we conceded a goal in the last minute of the first half. This was a heavy psychological blow. Even then, we fought to the end, unfortunately, it didn't work out.
Hummels apologized to everyone. This is football; we all make mistakes. We stand with him.
We are like a family. We need to continue what we have been doing so far and fight to the end. There are still many games left in the championship. We will see what the result will be in the end, - said Eldor Shomurodov.
According to journalist Francheska Di Nora from romaforever.it, the German defender cannot forget his mistake and is suffering mentally. In a conversation with journalists, Mats Hummels referred to this mistake as the biggest error of his career, stating that he learned a significant lesson from it.
- After that incident, I reassessed my values. I have no doubt that this is the biggest mistake I have made in my career. Throughout my career as a defender, I have made four major mistakes, but none of them negatively impacted the team's result as this one did in Bilbao.
Honestly, it was very difficult for me. Sitting in the changing room, hoping for the team to advance to the next stage, especially feeling that each of your teammates has to work even harder and suffer because of you, is very difficult, - said Mats Hummels.
This defeat remains "Roma"'s only loss of the current season, and the team continues to prepare with a serious mindset for the remaining games in the championship.
