Mancini: ‘Icardi’s exclusion was not a punishment’
“Building a team is like building a house, you need to start from the basis, otherwise it will collapse. Nevertheless we still need to run and work hard as we have done tonight. It is nothing-easy to win against Roma.”
“I have benched Icardi because I didn’t urge a static player up front, while I wanted Roma’s defenders not to have reference points in attack. Icardi's exclusion has nothing to do with his words after the game against Bologna.”
“We played a good game but we had to capitalize on our counterattacks. That’s something that we’ll improve on in the future, as I said there is still a lot to do.”
“I have replaced Jovetic because I have need of a fresh player to run behind Roma’s midfielders as we had to defend our lead.”
