Jose Mourinho confesses Roma fully deserved their defeat to Slavia Prague. ‘It was a horrible performance and only one player did not deserve to lose.’
The Giallorossi had been in a commanding position at the top of their Europa League group after the 2-0 win at the Stadio Olimpico, which was earned with two early goals.
However, there was no such breakthrough in Prague, where they fell by the same 2-0 scoreline and were caught at the top with an identical head-to-head record.
Mourinho was in the stands just above the press box, sitting out the final game of his UEFA touchline ban for insulting the referee after last season’s Europa League Final against Sevilla.
“We lacked everything today. I don’t want to talk much and nor should anyone else,” Mourinho told Sky Sport Italia.
“The result was absolutely deserved, both in a positive sense for Slavia Prague and a negative sense for us. I did not like anything about our performance. I already spoke to the players in the locker room, which is something I never do.
“What we said will remain between us. I want to be honest and fair with the Slavia Prague lads, who fully deserved this win.
“We had the opportunity to score for 1-1, but overall it was a horrible performance.”
Mourinho was asked what went wrong this evening and his response summed it up.
“Absolutely nothing worked. On an individual level, there were very few players with the attitude I like to see, with what was the right attitude for a game like this. I expected it to be difficult, we had to initially leave our Bryan Cristante and Paulo Dybala.
“I’ll tell you one thing I did like, Edoardo Bove. He is a 20-year-old kid and one guy is not enough to win us a match. All of us deserve defeat tonight except for Bove.”
It is the worst way for Roma to prepare for this Sunday’s Derby della Capitale showdown against rivals Lazio, which is not just about bitter rivalry, but also a head-to-head for position in the Serie A table.
“That is completely isolated games, when there is a difficult situation, you focus only on the next game.”