Gervinho favouritism talk ´nonsense´ – Garcia

Roma coach Rudi Garcia denied he treated Gervinho favourably after the forward’s starring role against Palermo.

Gervinho scored a brace as Roma claimed a 4-2 victory in the Serie A on Sunday, lifting them up to fourth in the table.

The Ivory Coast international has now netted in three straight games in all competitions.

Responding to claims he treated Gervinho as a favourite, Garcia denied that was the case – rather insisting the 28-year-old was just another player.

“Whoever says that is talking nonsense. He plays when he’s on form, like he is now,” Garcia said.

“It wasn’t only about Gervinho today though. The whole team played well and we managed the lead well.

“We put in a great first-half performance with some top-drawer football.”

Miralem Pjanic, Alessandro Florenzi and Gervinho struck in the opening 27 minutes at the Stadio Renzo Barbera.

Alberto Gilardino and Giancarlo Gonzalez, the latter in the 91st minute, got Palermo back into the game before Gervinho’s sealer.

Garcia said he never doubted his team would respond as he lauded Roma, who have scored a league-high 17 goals this season.

“I’m always relaxed. I work to improve this team,” he said.

“You have to bear in mind we have a lot of new faces this season and have had some injuries too. I’m confident.

“There are a lot of positives signs, such as the fact we have the best attack in Serie A. I also like the guys’ mentality. This is a united team that fights.

“We now need to learn to do that throughout the 95 minutes, as we’ve already shown against Juventus and Barcelona by the way.”