Daniele De Rossi blames Liverpool’s long-ball tactics for crushing Champions League defeat

But the Roma captain remains hopeful of another famous turnaround

Roma captain Daniele De Rossi has claimed Liverpool’s long-ball tactics were to blame for his club’s 5-2 loss in the Champions League last night.

The Italian side were completely ripped apart by Liverpool, with Mohamed Salah and Roberto Firmino both netting twice and Sadio Mane also scoring to give the Reds a 5-0 lead.

Roma did hit two late goals to at least give them some hope of turning the tie around in Italy next week, but De Rossi was left worried at quite how easily his team were ripped apart.

“Not having seen the game back, it would be wrong for me to give a tactical view of what happened,” he told Mediaset Premium.

“Liverpool are strong, let’s not forget, and they did very well, but we had 20-25 very good minutes at the start.

“They constantly went for the long ball, from any area of the pitch, and it’s difficult to cover that space when there are players who are always faster than you.

“We got the feeling they were going over the midfield completely, so we couldn’t intercept the ball.”

But the Roma captain added he was still hopeful of a turnaround.

“The only difference is that against Barcelona I saw a game that was unlucky, with many dubious incidents,” he said.

Roma were overran in midfield (Getty Images)

“Here we started strong, but then suffered under their pace and the ferocity of their attacks. We have to learn those lessons for the second leg.

“We felt at the Nou Camp that we were really in it and could certainly break them down. Here, we had a total black-out.

“We still need three goals, Liverpool are on the same level as Barcelona, so we know it’s possible. It can be done and we’ve done it before.”