Jose Mourinho has warned of the challenges that will come Roma’s way when they take on Atalanta at the Stadio Olimpico on Sunday evening, but insists that the Giallorossi will be no walkover, despite their current injury woes.
The Special One sat down for his pre-match press conference on Saturday afternoon, where he addressed a number of topics, including Sunday’s crunch game, the arrival of Dean Huijsen on loan from Juventus, and the departure of sporting director Tiago Pinto.
In terms of injuries, little has changed for Roma, who are without Chris Smalling and Evan Ndicak at the back. Renato Sanches also picked up an ankle sprain in training towards the end of this week.
“No player has recovered, Mancini can play, but he is not fully recovered. We all know about the others, they are out long term, Smalling, Tammy (Abraham). Renato (Sanches) is also injured, there is nobody else who has come back,” Mourinho told the press, reported via TMW.
Then, Mourinho began to analyse Sunday’s opponents. Only one point and one place separates Roma and Atalanta in the Serie A table.
The Giallorossi are in seventh on 28 points, while La Dea are in sixth on 29, which makes this weekend’s match massively important in the race for European football.
“The match is of a high level, the opponent is of a high level, there are lots of goof players, Atalanta is an excellent team. The game will be difficult, like Napoli, Juventus and then Lazio and Milan, the level of the opponents never drops.”
“They have everything. Quality, experience, options, they have had the same coach for many years, with the same philosophy, the same way of playing, he is very empathetic. It is a team that can play with its eyes closed, that understands the coach with their eyes closed, a team that has the ideal personnel to play their system.
“We won two years ago, last year we lost one of our best games at home. It will always be difficult, but this is who we are, we are tough, we are not an easy opponent either. We always find strength in our difficulties, they know we won’t be easy.”
On Huijsen, Mourinho added: “We all know who he is. He is an 18-year-old boy who has played 10 minutes in Serie A, but he is one of the highest quality prospects in European football at this age level. He will be a great footballer in the future.”
Mourinho was also asked about Pinto’s departure. Though he wishes his friend well, Mourinho was unable to expand too much further on the topic.
“For a coach, making decisions about a director is not for me. I am respectful of the hierarchy, I am here, the director is higher than me and the owners even higher. I have experience, but I can;t comment on the work of a superior, I am not capable of doing that.
“I am able to say I wish the director all the best and he knows it because we are friends, it was his decision that must be respected. I will always be there to cheer him on.
Then, Mourinho gave some more details about the availability of some of the players in his squad.
“There is no update on Smalling, I don’t think he will even train with us in January. Paredes? I don’t know, he took a massive blow against Cremonese, we feared a fracture but he doesn’t have one.
“From a legal point of view, Huijsen is available to play tomorrow, but he is a boy who arrived at the hotel last night, who trained for an hour today. He had an introductory meeting to try and get into our philosophy, our dynamics. If you ask me, he is ready to play, if he plays, he plays. He has great confidence in himself. He has no Serie A experience, but he has confidence typical of a player with lots of potential. It will practically be a debut in Serie A, 10 minutes against Milan were nothing.
“Central defenders for tomorrow, we have Llorente, Mancini and Huijsen. Bryan (Cristante) and Celik could adapt.”