El Aynaoui in awe of Olimpico crowd in Serie A opener: “It exceeded my expectations.” | OneFootball

Roma midfielder Neil El Aynaoui shared his impressions from his first official outing at the Stadio Olimpico in last night’s 1-0 win over Bologna.

The Moroccan player told reporters after the game, “My first time at the Olimpico, my teammates talked a bit about the place I’d find, but it even exceeded my expectations.”

“My role? I’m available wherever the team needs me. When I came on the pitch, the coach gave me clear instructions on how to play, both defensively and offensively. He asked me to play the ball up front.”

“Ligue 1 is also a slightly different league; Italy is more tactical. They’d already warned me there wouldn’t be any easy matches; we saw that today, and the teams are clearly much more solid.”

“There are always things to improve. Today we played the game we wanted. We set it up this way, both defensively and offensively. Now we need to continue working as we’ve been doing everything else since the start of preparation. We need to focus on the next match.”

“As for the Moroccan national team, I’ve been in contact with the coach. They told me to keep it up. If I get a call, I’ll be happy.”

“I arrived at a big club, it’s normal that there is competition in all roles, there are great players in all positions on the pitch and honestly I have no preference in a midfield whether it’s 2, 3 or 4.”