We deserved to win, insists Nainggolan

Radja Nainggolan felt Roma paid the price for taking too many risks after letting slip a late two-goal lead in a 4-4 Champions League draw with Bayer Leverkusen.

The Italians fought back from an early 2-0  deficit to move 4-2 ahead at the BayArena, with second-half goals from Miralem Pjanic and Iago Falque putting them on course to clinch their first away triumph in the competition since November 2010.

However, Leverkusen picked up a point from a see-saw Group E clash when Kevin Kampl and Admir Mehmedi beat Roma goalkeeper Wojciech Szczesny in the final six minutes.

“We dropped two points today and deserved to win because we played well from the start,” Nainggolan told Mediaset Premium.

“The penalty so early knocked us down, but we did well to get back in front. We can be disappointed with the result today, but that’s football.

“We didn’t lose and that is the only positive to take from this, but a victory would’ve given us such a good chance of qualifying.

“With the last two goals we lost the ball in a stupid way and ran risks when we shouldn’t have done. Perhaps we felt too confident being 4-2 up.”

Roma find themselves stuck at the bottom of the group on two points, though they do host Leverkusen – who occupy second spot – in the next round of fixtures.