Mourinho: ‘Roma are truly penalised’

Jose Mourinho shared his frustration with the injury crisis at Roma, the lack of alternatives and the fight for European qualification.

The Giallorossi started the season in disastrous fashion, picking up just one win in their first six outings, but they’ve started to recover in recent weeks, taking victories over Frosinone, Cagliari and Monza.

Roma’s last outing was a difficult 1-0 loss to Inter, showing the gap that exists between them and the teams competing at the top of the table. Things have been more positive in the Europa League, where Mourinho’s side have picked up nine points after wins over Sheriff, Servette and Slavia Prague.

Speaking in a press conference, Mourinho first discussed the conditions of Paulo Dybala and Renato Sanches.

“Renato and Paulo are back in the team, but they are not in optimal condition. According to the medical department and the coaches, there’s no risk and that’s what we need to hear, also for them who have enough confidence to stay on the pitch.

“They can give us a hand, everyone else who is out stays out.”

He was asked to respond to the criticism levied against him and Roma after their loss to Inter.

“I won’t get into the criticism and what’s missing. You said that five starters are missing, if Inter are missing they have five more to play, as have all the top teams.

“When we have players missing, there are no other starters. You answered yourself.”

The Portuguese coach commented on the qualities of Lecce.

“They’re a good counter-attacking team. They are very fast on the flanks. They have solutions to change during the match.

“They have a good coach who knows how to organize the team in terms of build-up and defence. They’re having a good season, they only lost one match against Napoli.”

Mourinho was asked about the injury crisis and how there will always seemingly be a handful of starters sidelined.

“An injured player is one thing, a player with a medical history is another thing. Bale was the best player in the world for four or five years but his medical history did not allow him to always be so and he was replaced by others to keep the level high.

“I am happy to have certain players at Roma with a clinical history when they are there.”

The Roma coach spoke about his happiness with the aforementioned ‘certain players’.

“I’m happy to have them because I can’t have anything else. With Inter we were in the game until the end, with a bit of luck we would have won, we got what we expected.

“I was sad about the effort of the players, who played two days earlier. I left satisfied. We conceded a goal that shouldn’t be conceded. The guys did well despite the limitations in terms of freshness and legs.

“Tomorrow, we don’t have Paredes because he is disqualified, we have half Dybala and a third of Renato Sanches. We will try to win tomorrow and get closer again.”

Finally, Mourinho was asked if Roma’s busy schedule was a problem or opportunity for the club.

“We knew before the start of the season the number of games we will play. There are teams that have more potential to do all this, others that have less. If we have six central defenders, we can play even every three days because we can change.

“If we have four which become three and then two, everything is more complicated. I think the word excuse in football is used more when you lose, afterwards. It is not used before. We talked about the schedule, but from the start of the season, not for the first time after the defeat against Inter.

“I understand that in football there are many people who arrived with a parachute, it’s not their world. They come for status, for politics, for a nice dress. These types of people must be respected for their status, but it’s not worth commenting on.

“They don’t know what playing two days later is or what makes the difference. Or they know it and pretend not to know it, and this is more serious. In the football league there are also people with a history of football, who have worked with teams and who know the difficulties of fatigue.

“If our club doesn’t ask this question publicly, it’s always me who has to stand in front of you and talk about it and maybe I shouldn’t.

“In this specific case, maybe I’m wrong, but for me there is a football grammar, and the excuse is something used later and I’ve been talking about it since the start of the season.

“The same thing will happen next week. Lazio play in Europe on Tuesday, we play on Thursday and then we can’t play the derby on Monday because there is a break.

“Here I say we were unlucky, they will have an advantage but there is no criticism. But everything that has happened up to today and that will happen again later, Roma are truly penalised.”