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ESPN staff 6y

Roma's James Pallotta hits back at criticism from ESPN's Ale Moreno

Roma president James Pallotta will appear on ESPN FC to defend his team after hitting back at analyst Alejandro Moreno for his critique of their Champions League exit.

Despite beating Liverpool 4-2 in the second leg of Wednesday's semifinal, Roma were eliminated 7-6 on aggregate, and Moreno said afterwards on ESPN FC that Pallotta's team were "just not good enough."

Pallotta, however, took exception to that description, and Roma's official Twitter account ridiculed Moreno's opinion and posted a video clip of the segment.

The Boston-based businessman also went on the Sirius XM FC radio show to address the criticism from Moreno, a former Venezuela international and Major League Soccer veteran.

"That guy Alejandro whatever-the-hell-his-name-is making a stupid comment about, 'Oh let's face it, Roma's not a good team,'" Pallotta said. 

"I'd love to go on ESPN FC and go step-by-step on the two games. Someone who's played versus someone like me who's a soccer moron -- this could be a lot of fun."

Pallotta will get his wish. He agreed to appear as a guest on the show to square off against Moreno on an episode in the near future, show producers said.

Moreno didn't back down on Thursday, saying: "I don't even think I was particularly critical of Roma considering. But, apparently giving up seven goals in two matches should be applauded."

On Wednesday's show, Moreno said that Liverpool, who had taken a 5-0 lead in the first leg before Roma cut into the deficit, were easily the superior team.

"I don't think anybody's arguing that [Liverpool did not deserve to advance]. Liverpool are better than Roma, they are the better team," Moreno said. "There's no doubt Liverpool deserve to be in the final and they have earned their way to the final. It's just, it shouldn't have been this way. It shouldn't have been so difficult."

In discussing his Roma player ratings, Moreno criticised their defence in particular.

"You look at a team that defensively, they have their issues," Moreno said. "You know how Liverpool has issues defensively? This team has issues defensively. [Federico] Fazio, no thanks, no, appreciate it, but I don't want it. [Kostas] Manolas, no thank you, I don't want it, appreciate it.

"Kolarov can't run, can not defend. Out of the midfield, De Rossi yes, a lot of experience, but can't run. And that's difficult when you have a team in transition like Liverpool that is gonna expose that lack of speed. ... Overall, Roma is just simply a team that is not good enough."

Pallotta said Roma's results from this season prove Moreno wrong. The Giallorossi beat Chelsea 3-0 at home and drew 3-3 in London in the group stage, then rallied from 4-1 down to eliminate Barcelona in the quarterfinals.

"When you can make a comment like that, when you take Barcelona 3-0, Chelsea 3-0, Chelsea 3-3..." Palotta said on Sirius. "I had to get that in. He deserves it."

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