AS Roma coach Daniele de Rossi has urged fans to be realistic after their Europa League defeat at home to Bayer Leverkusen.

Bayer won the first-leg of their semifinal 2-0.

“We played against a strong team that make it very difficult if they take the lead. We were too frenetic after the goal trying to get back into it, we had started aggressive and winning it back quickly, which was what we wanted," De Rossi told Sky Italia.

“So often in Europe we scored early and the game went our way, but this was the opposite. Football is all about incidents, it would be unfair of us to point to a single error tonight when we took advantage of mistakes in previous games. These things happen.

“Sometimes, in fact almost aways, incidents change a match, but there were still a good 60-70 minutes left to play after that. We also had that chance to score at the end and go there with a different scoreline.

“This is Leverkusen's year, they won the Bundesliga, they do not just have quality, but also a great deal of physicality and stamina."