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Roma President James Pallotta today granted a long interview to Sirius XM Radio. These are his words:
On the victory over Porto.
I think yesterday's match was interesting. Unfortunately, they had that [away] goal … I thought we played very well as a team – very good as a team – and we had other good chances to score. [Lorenzo] Pellegrini played a great match, [Bryan] I thought Cristante had a very good match and it was really nice to see. And you talk about a team, Porto, who, I think, has gone through a series of 26 games without defeat in all competitions. They might have lost for the last time in October or something like that. So they are a very, very good team. And even in the group stage, I think they had 16 out of 18 points.
On VAR, after, Pepe was not judged to have been handballed in the surface.
I do not know [if it was a penalty]. I mean, I gave up the VAR. You know. I do not understand when it is used sometimes, and I do not understand some of the calls after use sometimes. I think it was a little frustrating. Certainly before [winter] many times, including against Fiorentina, where I think we were seriously injured by VAR. I do not know if this ever happens, I do not feel like that. I'm always skewed … but I'm not sure it never ends. But I'm not really focused on that.
In the second leg against Porto.
I do not know if I'm going there [yet]. I like our position. I do not know if they will change [the away goals rule] but I like that if we score a goal there, or a few goals, it's worth it [more]. I obviously think we can play well against them – and they are a very good team. But in fact, I like it better than if we played in the other direction and played in Portugal first.
Have so many young players in the team now.
We do not need to sell these young players. About three years ago, we made concerted efforts. Rome should be an attractive place for young players. We did not inherit a great process when we took over the team, and maybe in the early years we also had other priorities. But if you look at our youth teams from under 19 to 10, when you look at total points, we are at the top of Italy. So we have the feeling to have very good young talents who will introduce themselves. Last night we had seven Italian players in the starting lineup. The last time that happened, it was with Juventus about six years ago. So we think we have a lot of local talent. And in fact, our under-17 team is participating in this big tournament in Doha and we are in the semifinals. We beat PSG, Spartak Moscow and some other victories. So we have very young talents. We made that effort and I think it will really pay off in the next two or three years.
Reflection on the season until now.
Well, I'm not [happy]I'm not really. Because I think we should be in second or third position, when you really look at it. We lost a lot of points this year and at the end of the games. It's pretty frustrating for me. Go up 3-0 against Atalanta, then equalize … If I look at this – and even if we take two thirds of the points we lost, I think we would be close to second place with Napoli. I am not happy with this point of view.
The hardness of the A series
I do not take anything for granted in this league. I still think that Serie A, from the 1st to the 20th, is the toughest league in Europe. I really believe that it is as difficult as the Premier League. Basically, they are so strategic and tactical, it's just different. It's not like we're going four or five goals, they have a strategy and it's not that easy. I do not take any of them for granted, regardless of the means used. We must, the next series of games, do our job. Let's hope we're healthy and, you know, finish in the top four.
On the approval of the stadium.
The mayor and all the others have come forward in the last few weeks and have said they want to do it by the end of the year. They are not finished and built, of course, but they start at least hopefully by the end of the month. year. So there has been a lot of positive movement on that side. So we have to finish with the serious stuff and hope that by the end of May, we will have everything back and ready to be approved. One of the problems is that we always have to buy the land: there was a letter of intent and we reached an agreement more than in principle, more than two and a half months ago with Eurnova. And Eurnova Trust has been reasonable, but we are dealing with an unreasonable lawyer who keeps pushing things and asking for unreasonable things that we simply will not accept. Once this is done, we control the entire project and have much more flexibility in terms of partners and other partners coming to work with us.
On the importance of the stadium.
The stadium belongs to the holding company AS Roma, which some do not realize, they think it's my boy toy. He belongs to the team. So the stadium has the result that all the income, the extra income we get, will only give us – hopefully – more financial strength to have more flexibility. The stadium is the key. It's just 100% key. If Roma has to be one of the top five or six best teams in the world, he must have that stage. You just have to. It's a question of economy. When Real Madrid and Barcelona knock on the door of a multibillion dollar turnover or exceed it, there is no other way to do it. You can try to be as smart as you can in player acquisitions, and it can work for a while – but [to do it with] some consistency will require some of that money, it's a reality.
On financial fair play.
Sometimes, for financial fair play, it is enough to sell players. People do not understand that. That's how it works. It's not like: "My God, I want to get rid of this guy!" It's just that, in financial fair play, you have to face very strict conditions – which other teams have managed to avoid! But we do not do it … It's sometimes frustrating, especially when we have very constructive discussions, let's say it, with UEFA. You know. When we look at some of the punishments – or the lack of punishment – inflicted. my opinion is: "Why do I care about financial fair play, should not I just take a fine of 12 million euros and fix this problem?" There are things to do. [with financial fair play]. In fact, I have just written a letter to UEFA, listed a number of things and asked for explanations or a constructive dialogue, compared to what we saw in the same way as other teams.
On the growth of Italian football.
I think the league needs to improve, the federation too. I think we have taken action, but I do not think that any of us [club owners] are completely or 100% happy again. If you look, what the Bundesliga has done, what the Liga has done, and what the Premier League has made clear … Italy should be on top.
On Aleksandar Kolarov.
For me, there is no doubt he is only the ultimate professional. Every day he is the first guy, he is practically the last guy to leave. He is just a hard, hard footballer. He does not go on social media, he does not drink, he just plays and he trains hard. And sometimes he makes a mistake, like all of us. I hope the fans realize that guys like him, you want to have 22 guys like that on your team! You just know that the guy is going to go and break his mouth. He does not complain and when he is hurt he always wants to go out.
On some of the emerging players.
All these other children, like Nicolo and Pellegrini, are very intelligent, thoughtful and mature beyond their age – as if that would surprise you. You talk about people like Lorenzo, who are clearly in my mind who will be the future leaders of Rome. And you have a lot of guys in the team like Fazio and Kolarov, and you hope they transmit more wisdom, having played for 10 to 12 years with some of these young kids.
John Solano
The editor of RomaPress.us, John has been covering Italian football as a freelance journalist for more than 10 years and has appeared in various publications, including ASRoma.com, EuroFantasyLeague.com and ESPN.
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