“We didn’t counter-attack as well as we could because we knew a few balls, a few passes that could end in a different way, but the team was fantastic in their attitude, playing against an opponent of a different culture, of a different intensity and to decide everything in Rome. I think it is good for us. I am not saying that it is easy at all. But I am saying that it is good to go home with this result.
“Honestly, nobody believes that this is the [Europa] Conference League. Credit to the competition, to have a game of this level, teams of this level, a referee of this level. I think the game was too good to be the [Europa] Conference League.”
Whichever team emerges triumphant from next week’s second leg in the Italian capital will face either Feyenoord or Marseille in the competition’s final at the Arena Kombetare in Tirana, Albania on May 25. The Dutch side head into the return leg with a 3-2 advantage over their French opponents.