Rome, Mourinho: “Proud of the performance, we’re missing a giant penalty”

“We’re missing a giant penalty but I’m still proud of the boys’ performance.” José Mourinho leaves Dall’Ara with a small regret for the episode of Lykogiannis’ blow to the face in the area at Ibanez, not considered a penalty by Orsato, but he still applauds Roma for how they managed to keep the field against Bologna: “It was a good game against an excellent team, well organised. It’s a solid draw. We also had the opportunity with Belotti to make it 1-0. We had many absences but even if a player from Primavera or a girl plays The mentality of the team does not change in the women’s team. The quality changes, but not the basic principles. Svilar was in his first game in the league like Missori, Tahirovic didn’t play often as a starter. And everyone did well”.

“Champions furthest away? The season is still fantastic”

However, with the draw in Bologna, Roma failed to connect with Milan and saw their hopes of reaching the Champions League through the championship fade further. Mourinho is clear: “When we were second or third, I said we could only think about the next game because with the accumulation of games we didn’t have the potential to go all the way in the two competitions. We never made choices, we always thought game after game I’ve been saying this here for 2-3 months, the fans have to listen to me. Our season is still fantastic. We can win or lose, finish fourth or seventh in the league, but it’s a season in which the boys have reached the limit.” .

“Wijnaldum recovered, Dybala in serious doubt for Thursday”

Now head back to the second leg with Leverkusen in the Europa League. The Portuguese coach takes stock of the situation: “Wijnaldum is fully recovered. We had the agreement to let him play 60/65′ and I took him off earlier only because I didn’t want to waste a substitution after Celik’s injury. Celik is a doubt and Dybala a big doubt”. In closing, a joke about having seen one of his many pupils again, Thiago Motta, one of his many pupils who has decided to pursue a coaching career: “It’s exciting, it means that time passes quickly and that they have grown up. It means that I have the strength to stay here after so many years, people can get tired of me and Ancelotti, but we’re still here.”