Gasperini: More lessons for Roma in Man Utd collapse than Real Madrid

Gian Piero Gasperini insists there are more lessons for Roma to take from their Champions League collapse against Manchester United than from the one against Real Madrid.

Roma looked set to cruise to their first-ever away win in major European competition against United, only to end up on the wrong side of another fightback.

Matias Soule and Donyell Malen had given Roma control just 17 minutes in, with the former profiting from acres of space to slot in before his next shot was blocked by Ayden Heaven's arm, resulting in the spot-kick dispatched by the Dutchman.

Roma had chances to increase their lead, with Soule also hitting the post on the stroke of half-time, but things crumbled after the break.

Gianluca Mancini gave away a penalty that Bruno Fernandes saw saved, but encroachment allowed a re-take, which was converted.

Leonardo Balerdi missed a clearance, which led to United's equaliser from Matheus Cunha, who then fired in the winner in the 86th minute.

Both of Roma's defeats in the competition this season have come after they led by two goals (also 3-4 v Madrid) – they are the first team in European Cup/Champions League history to lose two games from that position in the same season.

"It was a different game to Real Madrid, where it all happened in the last seven or eight minutes from corner kicks, and there were no real signs of the comeback," Gasperini told Sky Sport Italia.

"This time, it was, above all, after the penalty that Manchester United had this sudden surge of enthusiasm, and we were unable to keep up with it.

"I don't think it's a coincidence, but I also think they were different matches. [Against United], we didn't have the strength to press their strikers the way we did in the first half, plus the penalty and the error for the equaliser really turned the tide.

"There is always going to be 15-20 minutes against Manchester United when you're under pressure, and if you can emerge unscathed from it, you'll be fine."

United were on a nine-game winless streak heading into this clash, with their last victory coming on September 10 against Sabah. The win against Roma is just their third of the campaign in all competitions.

Roma's second-half was atrocious, however. They failed to offer anything going forward, having no shots and no touches in the opposition box.

"Honestly, we learned more from this match than the one with Real Madrid," Gasperini added.

"That felt unpredictable, whereas at times, when Old Trafford was pushing on the team, we need to be able to handle these situations better in future.

"They made modifications at half-time and had nothing left to lose, so they pressed high, so perhaps we should've made more of long balls in that situation.

"The problem was we were no longer able to stick to their reference points, so they had the better on pressing, not letting us play, but also on their attacks. That created some problems for us; we probably should've tried to interrupt their rhythm a bit more with some extra challenges and slow the tempo down.

"The momentum of the match changed with the penalty and the incident for 2-2."