Jose Mourinho reveals the ‘wonderful gift’ that Inter gave him on his San Siro comeback in the Coppa Italia quarter-final. ‘My rapport with Inter is eternal, but I came here to win for my Roma.’
This was the first return to San Siro as an opponent for Mourinho after winning the Treble in 2010 and he was greeted with applause, chants and banners welcoming him ‘home.’
“The way I was welcomed, the way Mr Zhang, Mr Marotta, Javier Zanetti gave me this wonderful gift, the people who were super, that is the emotional level. I can only thank them and never disguise the fact my rapport with Inter is eternal. I won’t hide that,” Mourinho told Sport Mediaset.
It ended 2-0 for Inter with goals from Edin Dzeko and Alexis Sanchez.
Coppa Italia | Inter 2-0 Roma: Dzeko and Alexis Sanchez ruin Mourinho’s return
“However, I came here to win, I came here for my Roma and the Roma fans. We were unable to win the match, but if I block out the opening five minutes, I saw a Roma side that played very well against a very strong Inter side.”
It was the worst possible start, because Edin Dzeko found the net within 90 seconds on an Ivan Perisic cross that Chris Smalling failed to cut out.
The Giallorossi fought back and went close, but there was no stopping the Alexis Sanchez screamer into the far top corner.
However, Roma protested that there was an Arturo Vidal foul on Sergio Oliveira in the build-up, though VAR did not intervene.
“We had two enormous chances in the first half, then after the break the game was more and more in our hands with each passing minute. We controlled, pressed well, recovered the ball back in midfield, had quality in the final third,” continued Mou.
“We didn’t create many chances, because of course Inter have excellent defenders, but we played well.
“The second goal obviously changed the match and also changed the referee. I thought tactically he was excellent up until the second goal, then he had a different game after that goal.”
Yet the referee also gave Mourinho a yellow card for dissent.
“It’s good for the CV to have a yellow card against Mourinho,” joked the coach.
Nicolò Zaniolo was harshly booked early on for a challenge on Alessandro Bastoni, so would Mourinho rush to defend his star man from the officials again?
“I will not talk about it anymore. Why? It won’t change, it’s been like this since the start of the season and it won’t change. That is why I said the referee was tactically clever, as many yellow cards were given before and after 2-0 he could officiate in a completely different way.
“Only a quality referee can do that and he is a quality referee.”
What was the gift that the Inter directors gave to Mourinho?
“It was San Siro in silver with crystals, it says this is your home, and it always will be my home. I also want people to know Roma is my home, I love my Roma and I am very sad that we lost.”
Mourinho evidently didn’t feel too much at home, as he skipped the planned post-match press conference.