Paulo Fonseca’s side already had to lose one game this season and they had to again – but were beaten
There was a comedy of mistakes when Roma fell out of the Coppa Italia on Tuesday night, with the Giallorossi with two red cards in two minutes and making an illegal substitution in extra time.
Roma were beaten 4-2 after extra time at home to Spezia, but would have been basically eliminated even if they had won the game.
After already making five substitutes at the game, manager Paulo Fonseca superseded the Ibanez defender for former Chelsea Pedro.
Apparently, Roma thought they could make a further change in extra time but, while this rule is common in cup competitions, it is not true in the Coppa Italia.
The capital club needed defensive consolidation after defender Gianluca Mancini showed a second yellow card for a fumble in the 91st minute – before goalkeeper Pau Lopez was shown red just for another fumble, just a minute after that.
Spezia took advantage of the red cards to score twice in extra time, including a stunning 119-minute lob from the edge of the box from Riccardo Saponara.
The Fonseca manager said there was a need to talk about the internal mixing substitution.
“If there is a problem, we have time to think about the inside. There is a problem, ”said the coach Rai Sports.
Roma has been dirty from the previous rule book. Earlier in the season, they lost 3-0 for a Serie A game against Hellas Verona in which they played an invalid player.
They probably knew they were in for a bad night against Spezia when they found themselves 2-0 down after just 15 minutes.
Andrej Galabinov from the spot hit six minutes later before Saponara doubled the win.
Lorenzo Pellegrini and Henrikh Mkhitaryan stopped to bring the game to extra time, but Daniele Verde and Saponara made sure their fight was not back for nothing.
“We had a difficult start to the game with the penalty, which was a difficult situation to understand,” Fonseca said.
“After that, we created a lot of chances, we lost a lot of goals, and then with two players down, it was tough.
“This is a difficult time, we wanted to go further in the Coppa Italia, but I can’t complain about the opinion of these guys. We have to prepare the next game. ”