‘I am always proud of these boys’ – Roma boss reacts to frustrating defeat
Roma coach José Mourinho has defended his players after a 1-0 loss at Bologna on Wednesday evening.
The Giallorossi had won three consecutive matches prior to the defeat. They dominated the match but could not find a way past Łukasz Skorupski. Another away loss means Roma have picked up just nine points from a possible 24. The defeat leaves Mourinho’s team six points off the top four and the UEFA Champions League places.
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Speaking to Italian TV, Mourinho said: “Congratulations to Bologna, to Sinisa [Mihajlović], to the players – they fought hard and got the three points.
“Congratulations to them. Well done to my players too, because once again they gave it their all even though they seemed to be up against everything and anything; injuries before the game, injuries during the game, ‘hidden’ injuries to players who played the full 90 minutes.
“Then there were a few incidents … but my players kept fighting.
“I am always proud of these boys. Because even if we have lost, I don’t have a bitter taste about it. I stand behind them.”
Mourinho continued with a comment on his forward Nicolo Zaniolo. The attacker was booked for simulation in the 72nd minute. It appeared he had been fouled in the box for a penalty. On a night of frustration and missed chance, Mourinho was yellow carded late on.
“I will finish with one observation,” added Mourinho. “I want to say something that probably goes against my interests: if I were Nicolo Zaniolo, I would start thinking that perhaps playing in Serie A means things will be stacked against me.”
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AS Roma play a crucial home match on Saturday against Mourinho’s former club, Inter Milan.
As disappointing as the loss to Bologna was, the effects will still be felt this weekend.
Centre-forward Tammy Abraham and right wing-back Rick Karsdorp received yellow cards which rule them out against Inter. Stephan El Shaarawy went off injured in the match too.
Mourinho said: “We have a game on Saturday and we will have to come up with a team for that one now.
“At least I took off Gianluca Mancini when I did, otherwise probably he would have got a yellow card too and missed the game with Inter.”
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