Cesc Fabregas reveals how Como were inspired by Inter to ‘hurt Gian Piero Gasperini’ and Roma, with regrets they were unable to get the win against 10 men.
These are two of the most attack-minded teams in Italy, so few were expecting it to be the first 0-0 draw of the entire Serie A season after 53 games with at least one side on target.
It’s not as if there weren’t opportunities, Lorenzo Pellegrini clipping the upright and Pierluigi Gollini making a couple of tricky saves on Nico Paz.
Fabregas neutralised Gasperini’s Roma
“Sometimes football really is inexplicable,” Fabregas told DAZN Italia.
“It is unusual to see two such positive and attacking teams play out a 0-0 draw. You need a lot of character to take Roma on, as if you focus on tactics first without the courage to play the ball, you won’t get points.
“When it was still 11 against 11, it was I feel one of the best performances of my career against Roma. There are regrets at the final result, but the performance was there.”
There were two major refereeing incidents, first on the stroke of half-time when Como wanted Wesley sent off or at least a free kick given for clipping the heels of Assane Diao, then on 53 minutes as Donyell Malen was shown a straight red card for his lunge over the top of the ball to catch Bruno Kaiki on the ankle.
Despite being down to 10 men, the Giallorossi held on at the Stadio Sinigaglia for a precious point.
“We didn’t make the most of the extra man, including with our possession, as we should’ve had more patience and moved the ball around faster,” continued Fabregas.
“This team is young, but still managed to avoid conceding any counter-attack situations, so in that sense it is positive.”
The referee actually changed for the final 20 minutes, as Michael Fabbri sustained a knee injury and swapped places with fourth official Simone Sozza.
Fabregas had surprised with some of his choices for the starting XI, picking Maxence Caqueret instead of Martin Baturina.
“Sometimes, players deserve more, so regardless of the tactical positioning, he deserved to be in the starting XI,” insisted the coach.
“We set up in a way to neutralise another team, Caqueret is not in our Champions League squad list, he trained very well, so I felt it right to play him.”
This is the second consecutive draw for Roma, who fumbled a 2-0 lead to draw 2-2 with Inter, but it was a different Nerazzurri coach that inspired Fabregas.
“In my view, the team that hurt Gasperini the most was Simone Inzaghi’s Inter. That was where I started to study a few aspects and get some ideas.”
