Slovan Bratislava coach Yaya Touré insists his side are heading to Roma to win, while hailing Gian Piero Gasperini’s work at Atalanta as “incredible”.
With quotes courtesy of TuttoMercatoWeb, the former Manchester City midfielder spoke at his press conference ahead of Tuesday’s Champions League clash at the Stadio Olimpico. “I believe you always keep learning. He has great experience and made an enormous contribution at Atalanta, improving every aspect of their game. The work he did there was incredible,” he said.
Touré took charge in June in his first job as a head coach, having previously been Roberto Mancini’s assistant with Saudi Arabia. He guided Slovan into the league phase with an extra-time win over Celje in the play-off, but they have lost both games so far, 6-1 at Paris Saint-Germain and 3-0 at home to Stuttgart.
Touré: ‘Roma can hurt you a lot’
Roma are without Paulo Dybala, Manu Koné, Bryan Cristante and Mile Svilar, and have one point from two games after the 4-3 defeat to Real Madrid.
“For me it’s very complicated, but I want to keep things simple,” Touré explained. “We’re up against a very strong team. They have some absences, but they’re still strong and they can hurt you a lot. I’m focusing on my team.”
Slovan have caused Roma problems before. They knocked the Giallorossi out of the Europa League play-off round in 2011, winning 1-0 in Bratislava and drawing 1-1 in Rome.
“We’re here to win. Then it depends on what we do on the pitch, and we have to give the best performance possible,” Touré said. “We learned a lot from the last two games, and now we want to show our character without fear.”
“Football is about enjoying the game and giving our fans something to be happy about. Then, if we lose, so be it.”