Jose Mourinho says Roma felt the ‘moral need’ to give travelling fans a victory in Helsinki against HJK, even though their Europa League progress will be decided against Ludogorets.
The Giallorossi squeezed a 2-1 win in Helsinki with a goal from Tammy Abraham, but the second saw Arttu Hoskonen redirecting Stephan El Shaarawy’s shot from close range.
Perparim Hetemaj had temporarily equalised, but both teams had a goal disallowed using VAR, Roma for Cristian Volpato’s offside position and for an arm in the face on Bryan Cristante.
It still means Roma must beat Ludogorets at the Stadio Olimpico in the final game of the group to secure second place behind Real Betis and reach the play-offs, which will be against one of the teams dropping down from the Champions League.
“I am satisfied. Before the game, we knew the Ludogorets result and that any result would leave everything open for next week, but there’s pride, you want to always win, especially after losing the most recent Serie A match,” Mourinho told Sky Sport Italia.
“We played well for long periods, Volpato had his first start, Giacomo Faticanti made his senior debut with his beloved Roma. There were no injuries, only Roger Ibanez because we always have a surprise on matchday. He was taken ill and remained in the hotel.
“As I said, we need to survive in this competition and that means reaching the final game still alive, ready to face Ludogorets at home and we need that victory.”
It will go down to the wire, as Roma can afford no other result, they simply must beat Ludogorets to go through in second place and therefore reach the play-offs, otherwise they will finish third and go into the Conference League.
“It is an accumulation of games, of fatigue, and our situation was under pressure from the first defeat to Ludogorets, even more after the unjust defeat to Betis. We felt this almost moral need to represent those people who came here from Rome, who saved every available Euro to make the journey with their beloved Roma, so we had to repay them for that.”
Mourinho has made the most of the injury crisis by bringing some Roma youth players through to feature in the Europa League and more will follow.
“Throughout my career I was working at clubs that had big champions, so it was difficult to let young players come through. It is wonderful to see their joy at being here. Cherubini was so happy to be on the bench, his chance will come, so will the opportunity for Cassano.
“It makes me very happy and I think it is pleasing for everyone at Trigoria. It’s just important they don’t lose their heads, as that is too easy with the modern generation, and we need help from the families too to keep their feet on the ground.”
Moral obligation would summon more goals.
Team has to perform better as they were on the verge of elimination if their goal was awarded.
The result was good but the performance was horrible 😫.
if you win, it’s a good game
if you loose, it’s a bad game
if you want entertainment, go to the cinema