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Ole Gunnar Solskjaer insists that he meant no disrespect by saying that he had not watched Roma after angering the Serie A club’s supporters.
United welcome Roma to Old Trafford on Thursday night in the Europa League semi-finals, though Solskjaer admitted to not knowing much about Paulo Fonseca’s side immediately after beating Granada in the previous round.
“I’ve not really seen too much of them,” he told BT Sport after the final whistle of United’s 2-0 second leg win.
“I know they’ve had two good games against Ajax. They defend well, as Italians always do. Experienced team and we all know Dzeko, so any ball in the box is a dangerous one.”
Roma fans responded by printing posters of Solskjaer alongside a translation of the quote and the message ‘make sure he remembers us’, then plastering them outside their Trigoria training ground.
Solskjaer said on Wednesday that he did not intend to offend Roma or their supporters with his comments and spoke of his deep respect for the club.
“That was straight after the game and with all the games we’ve had I was just relieved we’d gone through,” he said. “Of course I’d watched them but hadn’t analysed and hadn’t seen them in depth to give them enough respect, probably.
“It’s a fantastic club with a great history. I’ve actually got two prized possessions back home, a [Francesco] Totti shirt and a [Daniele] De Rossi shirt that I’ve swapped with them and they’re actually signed, so I know about the history, I know about the quality.
Former United defender Chris Smalling spent last season on loan at Roma from Old Trafford, before joining permanently last October.
“With Chris being there last season, we followed them then they signed Chris and we’ve not watched them as much but we have analysed them down to the ground since we drew them,” Solskjaer said.
“We are ready for them. It was not meant as any disrespect, I think everyone knows that. I’ve got loads of respect for them.”
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