What did Ranieri say about Eldor Shomurodov, who changed his game?

Claudio Ranieri started Uzbek striker Eldor Shomurodov in two consecutive matches.

The opponents were also the strongest teams in Italy - Napoli and Milan. The Uzbek player, who played very reliably against Napoli in Serie A, made a worthy contribution to the draw of his team.

In the Italian Cup, Eldor Shomurodov, who played the entire first half against Milan, could not break through the opponent's defense. Despite this, our compatriot played quite actively.

Claudio Ranieri's team lost to the hosts 1:3 and was forced to stop their march in the competition.

The official website of Roma published Claudio Ranieri's comments on the match.

- First of all, we must acknowledge and praise Milan for playing very well and for their superiority in every way. We played against a great club. We did everything we could to score a positive result in the match, we had several chances to score during the match, and we also had good defensive situations.

We conceded goals ourselves in moments when we should have scored. When there is a lot of pressure, it is natural for the game to get out of hand and that is why we were unable to turn things around.

I am accused of not relying on counterattacks, but when playing against such a high-level team, it is much harder to do this in practice than to talk about it.

I am happy that they are demanding that we move up the table, win the Italian Cup, and qualify for the Europa League. But don't forget the state in which I received the team.

I'm interested in how my players will react to this defeat. We need to at least qualify for the European Cups this season. I want you to understand that we are doing everything we can to achieve this.

It's not easy for the players either. They are working with their third coach in a season. Each coach has his own approach, his own way of working. It's not easy. I have to thank my players for doing their best.

After this match, I told Milan coach Sergio Conceição that he managed to establish order in the team. His team should be praised for playing well. I value sincerity and I say what I feel. There is no problem with mutual respect with opponents.

I should also say that before the match, I asked Eldor Shomurodov to act the same way he played in the match against Napoli. Eldor was required to play in front of Paulo Dybala and our three midfielders and control the game. They were supposed to get the team on their feet.

But Shomurodov had spent a lot of energy in the match against Napoli. Therefore, this time he could not fully perform his actions, as in the match against Napoli. However, it must be admitted that he played a very good game.

It would be unfair if I blamed him, because Eldor scored, made very good passes to his teammates around the penalty area. We fought.

We knew that Milan would launch quick attacks. We showed a well-organized game against Eintracht and Napoli, which rely on quick attacks. But we could not hold our own against Milan, we played confidently in some situations, - said Claudio Ranieri. Follow “Zamin” news on “Telegram”