Philippe Mexès (left) concedes the penalty from which Robin Van Persie scored (©Getty Images)
AS Roma defender Philippe Mexès admitted the Italian side were relieved to have escaped with just a 1-0 defeat at Arsenal FC on Tuesday, but warned the Gunners to expect a different test altogether in Italy in a fortnight's time.
Positive thinking
Luciano Spalletti's visitors lost the first leg of this UEFA Champions League first knockout round contest to a Robin van Persie penalty – awarded for a Mexès foul on the Dutchman – but it could have been worse for Roma, who saw Nicklas Bendtner and Emmanuel Eboué miss clear opportunities to inflict greater damage. Mèxes said: "Obviously we are very disappointed with this defeat, but at the same time we are very positive we can turn it around because 1-0 away is nothing."
'No fear'
The French international, who had "no complaints" about the penalty award, added: "Arsenal play good football but they are not unbeatable. In Rome it will be a completely different match in which we will have to push forward and play without fear, which we did not do in the first part of the match tonight. In the end a penalty decided the outcome but the score is still positive considering all the other chances they had to add to their lead. The first leg is over now and we have to start in a different way in two weeks' time, playing at home with our fans behind us. At our ground we will give everything to reach the next round."
Riise relief
The feeling in the Roma camp afterwards was that their performance improved as the game went on. "We showed at the end of the second half that we could have got more out of the game," said Mexès. Yet while John Arne Riise drew a save out of Manuel Almunia in the closing stages, it was no more than Marco Motta had done in the first period. Riise himself acknowledged the Serie A outfit were lucky to have survived several scares in their own penalty box, notably when an unmarked Bendtner failed to profit from scoring chances in each half. "We didn't play at all well tonight and I can't believe Bendtner missed those goals because normally he'd have scored," said Riise.
'Lucky'
In the group stage Roma avenged a 1-0 loss to Chelsea FC in London with a 3-1 home success, and the Norway defender added: "The tie is still wide open because we're just 1-0 down and that's very different from being 2-0 down. If you look at the chances we created and the chances they created in the end we were probably lucky to have come away with just a one-goal deficit. "
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