Jose Mourinho repeatedly said Roma reached the Conference League Final as ‘a family’ between club, players and fans, seeing off Leicester City and ‘now we want to win’ against Feyenoord.
Tammy Abraham’s early header on a corner proved enough to secure passage to the Final, beating Leicester City 1-0 on the night and 2-1 on aggregate.
They will face Feyenoord in the Conference League Final in Tirana on May 25, which is the first major European Final for the Giallorossi since 1991.
Feyenoord held Olympique Marseille to a 0-0 draw in France, going through 3-2 on aggregate.
Conference League | Roma 1-0 Leicester (2-1 agg): Abraham books Final ticket
“I am so tired, I want to go home!” Mourinho told Sky Sport Italia.
“It’s a victory of the family. Not just the one that was on the pitch and on the bench, but in the stadium. That is our greatest achievement, this empathy and sense of family we have created with the fans.
“I think our performance was extraordinary, others might see it differently, but when your goalkeeper makes two saves over 120 minutes against a Premier League side with so much attacking quality, it means we’ve done something good.
“The lads deserve this, we have three Serie A games left to end as well as possible. We’ve had a fantastic trajectory to reach the final, we dropped points in Serie A to achieve that, but now we are in the Final and we want to win.”
Mourinho has already made history as the first coach to reach a UEFA Final with four different clubs (Porto, Inter, Manchester United and Roma), but can also become the first to win the Champions League, Europa League and Conference League.
The Special One was also the last coach to win a European trophy at the helm of an Italian club, with Inter in 2010.
“Our pressing style runs risks, but we are not capable of doing it for 90 minutes. We sat deeper, transformed to a 5-3-1-1 formation, kept the lines tight with an incredible effort from the midfielders. It wasn’t easy to keep the ball without Mkhitaryan, but they worked so hard.
“Again, it was a family, this is how I describe this team.”
Abraham went off utterly exhausted, as he not only scored the goal, but also showed a remarkable work ethic. However, that’s not enough for Mourinho.
“Tammy knows, I refuse to speak highly of him. Because he can do better and he knows that! He is a great player with potential to be even greater. I refuse to praise him! He needs to work this hard in every game, not just when we are up against Lazio or fighting for a European Final!”
There was also a message for Carlo Ancelotti, who has reached the Champions League Final with Real Madrid against Liverpool.
“If you allow me a message for a coach who is my friend, the great Carletto, let’s both go and win the Finals!”
Full time! Roma 1-0 Leicester City
Mourinho has done it yet again, a commanding performance sees the Lupetti triumph over the foxes 🐺
They’ll meet Feyenoord in the #UECL final 🏆 pic.twitter.com/q3ekCOG2Eu
— Football on BT Sport (@btsportfootball) May 5, 2022
Well done Mourinho and Roma. Respect.
Mourinho is slowly building Roma into a team the the will make Europe take notice!! Don’t believe me let the 25 trophies talk for him
I thought they were trash who weren’t men?
Pellegrini Zaniolo Abraham Smalling Mancini Patricio Zalewski Mourinho what a great team.
So proud of them, after the suffering of the Pallotta era, really excited to see where the Fredkins will take us! DAJE LUPI!!!
I like Jose. He was a great coach at Inter and the teams he has run. I certainly hope that he wins. Forza Roma! Actually I wish he was the Inter coach again. But one day maybe. LOL
Super jose many more victories to come.
Wait till Spinnazola comes back
Europe is sure taking notice that it is the 3rd division equivalent.
No Samy, everyone is talking about your fabulous Lazio, what have they got lined up for us at the season end?? A Laziale, cambia canale!!
Wow roma reaching conference league final…wow what a great acheivement..hahahaha…very unique how mourinho makes it sound like an acheivement…maybe loosing to a bolde team with 6 goals is the most remarkable thing acheived