Roma boss Jose Mourinho praised his team after tonight’s 2-0 defeat to Inter, which essentially ended their hopes in a top four finish.
The Nerazzurri responded to Milan’s victory earlier today over Lazio by defeating the Giallorossi at the Stadio Olimpico and sending them to a third defeat in their last four league games.
“I told the lads how proud I was of them after the game,” Mourinho told DAZN. “Several of them gave an incredible effort despite some playing on one leg or injuries.”
“I also thanked the youngsters, the supporters…the atmosphere in the stadium was incredible. The relationship they have with this team is fantastic.”
“Losing is tough but we’re going home tremendously proud. Tomorrow the team will have a day off but I’ll be at Tre Fontane to watch the Primavera and then we’ll be back Thursday for the first leg against Bayer Leverkusen.”
When asked more about their Europa League semi-final on Thursday, the Special One isn’t optimistic about recovering any of the several injured players that couldn’t feature tonight.
“I’m not optimistic many of the guys will be ready for Thursday. We played against perhaps the strongest team in Italy that’s in the Champions League semi-final,” he stated.
“We’ve got several guys that are extremely tired such as Pellegrini, Mancini and Cristante. Then we’ve got others still carrying knocks and injuries such as Dybala and Belotti.”
Adding, “When I got here, Bove was going to go on loan to Triestina but tonight he featured against Inter. Looking beyond the result, I’m proud of my players.”
“If we want to look at various episodes from tonight’s game I’m better off not speaking, I can’t. Though, it was nice to see my credibility and ethics criticised by a guy who was banned for three years for betting on football (referring to Renzo Ulivieri—the head of the Italian Football Managers’ Association).”
