{"id":946332,"date":"2026-03-11T19:03:43","date_gmt":"2026-03-11T19:03:43","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/football-italia.net\/?p=946332"},"modified":"2026-03-11T19:03:43","modified_gmt":"2026-03-11T19:03:43","slug":"gasperini-roma-not-setting-priority-malen-rare","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/football-italia.net\/gasperini-roma-not-setting-priority-malen-rare\/","title":{"rendered":"Gasperini: ‘Roma not setting priority, Malen situation is very rare’","gt_translate_keys":[{"key":"rendered","format":"text"}]},"content":{"rendered":"

Gian Piero Gasperini insists Roma are not prioritising Serie A ahead of the Europa League clash with Bologna, despite an injury crisis in attack. \u2018Donyell Malen\u2019s situation is very rare.\u2019<\/p>

It kicks off at the Stadio Dall\u2019Ara on Thursday at 17.45 GMT (18.45 CET).<\/p>

\"ROME,
ROME, ITALY \u2013 AUGUST 23: Gian Piero Gasperini, Head Coach of AS Roma, looks on prior to the Serie A match between AS Roma and Bologna FC 1909 at Stadio Olimpico on August 23, 2025 in Rome, Italy. (Photo by Paolo Bruno\/Getty Images)<\/figcaption><\/figure>

The second leg will be at the Stadio Olimpico next week, as we know only one Italian team will make it to the quarter-finals of the tournament.<\/p>

It is confirmed that the Giallorossi will be without suspended Gianluca Mancini, plus injured Matias Soul\u00e9, Paulo Dybala, Artem Dovbyk and Evan Ferguson, but Mario Hermoso is included in the list.<\/a><\/p>

Gasperini has reduced Roma options<\/h2>
\"GENOA,
GENOA, ITALY \u2013 MARCH 8: Gian Piero Gasperini, head coach of Roma, looks on prior to kick-off in the Serie A match between Genoa CFC and AS Roma at Luigi Ferraris Stadium on March 8, 2026 in Genoa, Italy. (Photo by Getty Images)<\/figcaption><\/figure>

\u201cWe\u2019ll see tomorrow, at the moment Hermoso is available and could play, but he\u2019s been out for a while, so we\u2019ll see if it\u2019s from the start or off the bench,\u201d explained Gasperini in his press conference.<\/a><\/p>

\u201cAt least one Italian team will get through for sure. It\u2019s true the trend for Italian teams in Europe has not been good this season, even worse if we add in the Nazionale struggles, so evidently it\u2019s not a coincidence.<\/p>

\u201cWe all need to dig deep and explain what the problem is, the coaches, clubs, and probably the media too. It\u2019s not about a tactical issue, there\u2019s something deeper that probably stems from the youth academies and the way teams are built.\u201d<\/p>

\"ROME,
ROME, ITALY \u2013 DECEMBER 15: Gian Piero Gasperini, Head Coach of AS Roma, hugs Cesc Fabregas, Head Coach of Como 1907, prior to the Serie A match between AS Roma and Como 1907 at Stadio Olimpico on December 15, 2025 in Rome, Italy. (Photo by Paolo Bruno\/Getty Images)<\/figcaption><\/figure>

Considering he has won the Europa League with Atalanta, but also that Roma have a Serie A battle with Como this weekend for fourth place, which is the priority for them?<\/p>

\u201cEvery game is important, we cannot make calculations, but take them one at a time trying to give our best in each one,\u201d replied the coach.<\/p>

\u201cThe priority is both competitions, perhaps a few weeks ago we also had the Coppa Italia and therefore saw Serie A as the priority, but we never thought about just letting anything go.<\/p>

\u201cI don\u2019t see any way of giving less in a match situation. It\u2019s possible we won\u2019t play as well in some games as others, but it won\u2019t be by choice.\u201d<\/p>

<\/smartframe-embed><\/p>

The January signings have made a big impact, most notably striker Malen, who will finally get to play in the Europa League with Roma after he was cup-tied for the league phase due to his time with Aston Villa.<\/p>

\u201cWe are scoring more goals, the trend is positive thanks also to the arrival of Malen, who has made us more dangerous in attack,\u201d confirmed Gasperini.<\/p>

\u201cWe have certainly lost several important players in attack, but Malen has given us something extra. Bryan Zaragoza needs time to adapt, he\u2019s only been here for a month, so the situations like Malen who hit the ground running in a new team are very rare.<\/p>

\u201cWith both Dybala and Soul\u00e9 out, we have had to rotate players in those support roles. Lorenzo Pellegrini has played there most consistently, but Lorenzo Venturino, Robinio Vaz and Stephan El Shaarawy can all play there.\u201d<\/p>

<\/smartframe-embed><\/p>

Has Gasperini spoken to Pellegrini about his future, with the contract running down?<\/p>

\u201cNo, this is not something we need to discuss now, as it\u2019s a fundamental stage of the season, and we need to focus on the pitch.\u201d<\/p>

Could Malen and Vaz even start together tomorrow?<\/p>

\u201cAnything is possible,\u201d smiled the coach.<\/p>","protected":false,"gt_translate_keys":[{"key":"rendered","format":"html"}]},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Gian Piero Gasperini insists Roma are not prioritising Serie A ahead of the Europa League…<\/p>\n","protected":false,"gt_translate_keys":[{"key":"rendered","format":"html"}]},"author":90,"featured_media":939881,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"sfio_featured_image":false,"sfio_embed_code":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[4,16,40,41595,41962,1,41484,31],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-946332","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news","category-bologna","category-europa-league","category-frontpage","category-home-page-top-news","category-latest","category-newsnow","category-roma"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/icdn.football-italia.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/Gian-Piero-Gasperini-glance.jpg","amp_enabled":true,"gt_translate_keys":[{"key":"link","format":"url"}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/football-italia.net\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/946332"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/football-italia.net\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/football-italia.net\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/football-italia.net\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/90"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/football-italia.net\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=946332"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/football-italia.net\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/946332\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":946334,"href":"https:\/\/football-italia.net\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/946332\/revisions\/946334"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/football-italia.net\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/939881"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/football-italia.net\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=946332"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/football-italia.net\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=946332"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/football-italia.net\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=946332"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}