“He paid the consequences”: Gasperini blames the AFCON for El Aynaoui

Neil El Aynaoui, a scorer and starter with AS Roma, had his coach Gian Piero Gasperini attribute his early season struggles to the AFCON. Gasperini stated that El Aynaoui played well before leaving for the tournament but suggested he lost energy due to incidents with Morocco. However, statistics show that El Aynaoui was not a regular starter before the AFCON, calling this explanation into question.