AS Roma coach José Mourinho Source: SITA/AP/Alfredo Falcone/LaPresse
ROME – AS Rome football coach José Mourinho warned before the Europa League match against Slavia that his team will face a high-quality opponent with great offensive power on Thursday.
According to the sixty-year-old Portuguese, the Czech vice-champions have two faces, and the course of the match at the Olympic Stadium will depend on which one they show. Mourinho said that he does not have much experience with Czech football. At the end of the press conference, he greeted athletes from another field, tennis player Radek Štěpánek, whom he had met several times in the past.
José Mourinho took advantage of the press conference before Roma – Slavia Prague to ask the Czech journalists present for the contact of a “great friend” of his. Well that’s okay, it’s the tennis player Radek Stepanek, it should be fine to find his number. pic.twitter.com/80EwHOLBCX
— RMC Sport (@RMCsport) October 25, 2023
“Slavia has a great attack, dynamism and a solid defense. I saw them in five matches in which they showed two faces. One against Sparta (1:1) and the other against everyone else. The question is which Slavia will we face tomorrow. We are ready on both,” Mourinho said. “Against Sparta, they played more directly, with less ball possession. It was a different style of play, a completely different philosophy,” he pointed out.
Double standard
The famous Portuguese coach highlighted the offensive of the Praguers, who won the first two rounds in the group with a score of 8:0. “They have five or six dangerous players up front, they lead attacks in two or three different ways. Of course, it is more difficult for us to prepare for the match because they often rotate the lineup.” said the only coach to win the Champions League, the Europa League and the European Conference League. He won the last of the mentioned competitions last year with AS.
Mourinho will be absent from the bench again due to the punishment. He received a four-match suspension from UEFA’s disciplinary committee for insulting the referee after the Europa League final, in which his team lost on penalties to Sevilla. He will not coach directly from the playing field even in the weekend’s league match in Milan against Inter, because he was sent off in Sunday’s match with Monza (1:0). “There’s a double standard. Why, I don’t know.” he responded briefly.
Photo gallery (2) Source: SITA/AP/Alessandra Tarantino
He certainly won’t be able to use captain Lorenzo Pellegrini or offensive star Paul Dybala in Thursday’s duel between the two 100 percent teams of Group G. The Argentinian world champion did not have time to heal the injury to the lateral ligament in his knee and was not even at pre-match training today. In his introductory part, which was also attended by representatives of the media, the famous coach did not stop joking with his wards, but at the afternoon press conference in the modern training center of AS, he seemed more serious.
Mourinho also recalled the first meeting with Czech football. In 2002, in the Champions League, he lost to Porto 0:2 at Letná with Sparta. “It’s been many years, I was only in Porto for a few weeks then. Otherwise I hardly have any direct contact with Czech football, now I’m more of an observer. But I think we’re well prepared for Slavia, even if there wasn’t that much time.” Mourinho said.
Greetings from a distance
At the end of the press conference, he took the floor to greet tennis player Štěpánek. The two-time winner of the Davis Cup met Mourinho several times when the Portuguese was working in London’s Chelsea. In 2012, the controversial coach used Štěpánek’s will and determination on the court as a role model for Real Madrid players.
“I would like to use this opportunity to say hello to my friend Radek Štěpánek. I lost his phone number, I would like to re-establish contact with him this way,” stated Mourinho, who subsequently actually received the number from the Czech journalists.
Author: © List VIDEO: Twitter/RMC Sport Source: CTK
2023-10-26 07:39:34
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