Gianluca Mancini admits Roma must improve and reveals he disobeyed José Mourinho’s instructions, although for a good cause.
The Giallorossi beat CSKA Sofia 5-1 in their opening UEFA Conference League group stage game.
They went one goal down after just ten minutes, but they managed to turn things around through a Lorenzo Pellegrini brace and goals from Stephan El Shaarawy, Gianluca Mancini and Tammy Abraham.
Mancini scored Roma’s fourth goal in the 82nd minute from a corner kick even if José Mourinho had told him to stay back.
“He told me to stay back during corner kicks, but I felt I could score, so I ran all the way up and when I scored, I went to tell it to him,” the 25-year-old revealed.”
The coach and his technical staff burst into laugher when Mancini approached the touchline celebrating his goal.
“When a player asks you to go in the box for a corner and you say no but then he goes and scores… You can only smile,” Mourinho wrote on social media after the game.
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“He [Mourinho] brought a new mentality. He’s said what he wants from us since the very first day of training. There isn’t a single session where we slow down, his desire to teach us what he knows has brought this, he makes everybody feels important,” the defender continued.
Roma have six wins in just as many games in all competition so far this season.
They share the top spot in Serie A with Milan and Napoli and they will face Hellas Verona away on Sunday.
Players are not the only ones overwhelmed by the enthusiasm as fans are also going crazy for the Special One during these first few months in charge.
“This must be the fans’ feeling, but they’ve been proving the same anytime, also in away games. We hear them on the pitch. This must be the attitude,” Mancini said.
“It’s positive and even though we know it’s just the beginning, we are creating a team with principles. We know we must improve, but we must work game after game.
“I speak a lot on the pitch, I try to understand my mistakes and the others’. We could have done better in some situations. It’s not ideal to concede a goal at the beginning of the game, we must improve and become more solid,” he concluded.
I know it’s only one game, and I realize it’s just the Europa Conference League, but of all the Italian teams playing in the various continental championships, yesterday’s game with Roma was the most fun to watch (I’ll discount Juve’s 3-0 win for now as I sadly expect failure later).
Agreed. I try to support any Italian team in UEFA competition but it’s really hard to support a team as disappointing at Juve on the European stage. They always find a way to lose when it matters most. Forza Roma as always.