Jose Mourinho admits Roma were fortunate to take the lead away to Vitesse, but ultimately earned their Conference League victory with his substitutions. ‘The team worked better.’
It was far from a vintage performance in Arnhem and the Giallorossi were fortunate to avoid conceding before Sergio Oliveira smashed into the far top corner.
The Portuguese midfielder was later sent off for a second yellow card and will be suspended for the second leg along with Gianluca Mancini.
“I will admit, we did not deserve to go into the break 1-0 up,” confessed Mourinho to Sky Sport Italia.
Conference League | Vitesse 0-1 Roma: Sergio Oliviera hero and villain
“We didn’t do anything to score that goal, we had problems and were fortunate, but we did much better in the second half. Defensively we controlled well, it was a really difficult match.”
The coach was clearly unhappy, as he made a triple substitution at half-time.
“When you don’t have a pure creative midfielder, you need to try different dynamics. Veretout and Sergio didn’t control the midfield well today, but the second half was different. I am not saying Cristante is better than Veretout, just that the team worked better.
“It was difficult for Veretout to get past his man, the same for Maitland-Niles, so Rick Karsdorp did better. I never got the feeling in the second half that we would concede, whereas at half-time I was more than happy to go in at 1-0.”
This was the third consecutive 1-0 win for Roma in all competition, so are they finding their Mourinho-style solidity at last?
“We have been trying to build something from the first day. We might have more stability now, we have almost a full squad for the first time in a long time.
“We’re more solid, we have more solutions, we understand each other better, are more pragmatic. Even in a difficult moment today, the team reacted.”
.@OfficialASRoma I Le parole di José #Mourinho dopo la vittoria contro il #Vitesse https://t.co/VXANqOS4xJ
— Gianluca Di Marzio (@DiMarzio) March 10, 2022