Garcia upbeat despite defeat

Rudi Garcia refused to allow Juventus’ last-minute winner on Sunday to bring him down as he hailed Roma’s “extraordinary season”.

Garcia’s side suffered their first home defeat of the campaign as former Stadio Olimpico favourite Pablo Daniel Osvaldo came off the bench to score the game’s only goal four minutes into stoppage time.

The result further underlined Juventus’ dominance of Serie A, which they won for the third time in a row last week after Roma fell to a shock 4-1 loss at Catania.

But head coach Garcia remained upbeat on Sunday, lauding his side’s achievement as they are assured of second spot and UEFA Champions League football.

“Today’s result doesn’t change this extraordinary season we’ve had,” he said.

“I’m very happy with our season. We’ve got another appointment with Juve set up for the next one.”

Garcia, though, refused to be drawn on talk over a new contract.

“This is not the time to talk about that,” he added. “I can’t wait to run round the pitch and thank the fans, because they deserve it.”