Jose Mourinho reflected on Roma’s historic Europa Conference League victory and their season as a whole.
The Portuguese coach took over last summer and immediately created an atmosphere in the Italian capital, exciting the fans with his passion and strong results. Winning the Conference League guarantees his name a place in their history and now they’re preparing to build on this season’s successes ahead of the upcoming next campaign.
Speaking to Record, Mourinho first discussed the importance of the Conference League victory.
“Roma’s victory in the Conference League is on the same level as a victory in other European competitions because it gave us strong emotions, regardless of the size of the competition.
“There are clubs for whom European victories are a natural consequence of investment and expectations. I was lucky that out of five victories, four were against the odds. With Porto, for example, nobody expected European victories, just as with Inter. And even less so with Roma.”
He touched on how it feels the wins with the Giallorossi.
“I lived them with madness and passion, they coincide with one of my main concerns as a coach. Giving joy to others is the most beautiful thing in life. Rome? A very special victory.”
The Portuguese coach looked back at the 2021-22 season as a whole.
“It depends on who is analysing it. For some people it was bad, for me, who am very demanding with myself, it was great, because we didn’t have the ability to do better. Some played more than 50 games.
“I had to play young players, I had top players out for many months, opponents like Inter, Milan, Juve, Napoli, Atalanta and Lazio, then 14 games on Thursday with the league on Sunday.
“We worked hard to improve, that’s why I say Tiago Pinto is great. He is my partner, a great manager and, today, a great friend. That’s why Benfica didn’t win.”
Mourinho spoke about the growth of Serie A in general.
“The league is growing, even the small-medium teams have quality in their game and want to win. I am happy to be back.”
He touched on the delicate issue of refereeing in Italy. Officiating in Serie A has become a heated topic following a number of high profile mistakes this season.
“They are not only discussed in Serie A, but all over the world. Here there is a difficult job for Mr Rocchi, because there are fewer experienced referees and many young ones. Some refereeing errors have affected several matches, but Serie A is a quality league.”
Finally, Mourinho spoke about Milan forward Rafael Leao, who played a key role in their Scudetto success this season.
“What a player. He’s relentless. Milan perfect his qualities and he has solved many games. He’s strong against low defences and also in transition in space. Mamma mia, I hope he continues like this, with a good head and the right people by his side because he can become big, very big.”
#Roma, #Mourinho: 'Conference qui come la Champions, vittoria contro natura. Arbitri? Hanno condizionato' https://t.co/xbmQXXQ9kd pic.twitter.com/BQ0qH2R7RD
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