Roma's sporting director hits out at Uefa over Mohamed Salah transfer after Liverpool loss in Champions League

Roma’s sporting director Monchi has hit out at Uefa after his team’s chastising 5-2 defeat to Liverpool in the Champions League.

Braces from Mohamed Salah and Roberto Firmino, and a goal from Sadio Mane, meant Roma were 5-0 down at Anfield before Edin Dzeko and Diego Perotti struck late on to give the Giallorossi a glimmer of hope.

But after the match Monci hit out at Uefa for forcing the club to sell Salah to Liverpool last summer. The Reds signed Salah for just £34m, with Roma unable to turn down the deal because of Financial Fair Play regulations.

“It’s true, I sold Salah, but I was forced by UEFA’s constraints,” the sporting director told Onda Cero.

“The explanation is that last summer, we were forced to sell by June 30. If we hadn’t, we wouldn’t be in the Champions League semi-finals.

“Our accounts were under strict UEFA controls, and when I arrived there was an offer of 30m for Salah, but then with bonuses we went up to 50m.

“In short, we did the best we could at that moment. I didn’t expect the market to go crazy after that, even though Salah is having a fantastic season, so congratulations to Liverpool for getting the deal done.”