Mourinho wants to continue to win the European Championship
"Roma is not the best club in Italy, not the best club in the Europa League, but we can still win it. Roma play according to the team available and what we have is balance," said Mourinho. April 12 at the press conference before the Europa League quarter-final first leg against Feyenoord.
Last season, Mourinho and Roma won the Europa Conference League and became the only manager to win the European Cup with four clubs. Before winning the first Conference League with Roma in history, he won the UEFA Cup (the predecessor of the Europa League) in 2003 and the 2004 Champions League with Porto, helped Inter to win the 2010 Champions League, and then led Man Utd to conquer. Europa League 2017.
Roma have struggled to score this season with Tammy Abraham and Andrea Belotti both falling. Abraham scored seven goals in 40 games, while Belotti had just four in 33 games. However, Mourinho is not worried. "Both are fine," he said. "They have just become fathers, with Abraham the first, and Belotti the second. They are both happy and I'm happy to have them in the squad."
Mourinho is also delighted that centre-back Chris Smalling has extended a two-year contract with Roma. The Portuguese coach praised Smalling for finding the stability he lacked while at Man Utd, but stressed that the English player's extension did not affect his future.
This season's Europa League quarter-finals are a re-enactment of last season's Europa Conference League final. At the Air Albania stadium in Albania that day, Feyenoord outperformed Roma in all statistics except goals. The Dutch club had 67% possession, 572 passes, six corners and five shots on target. Roma's stats are 33%, 289 passes, four corners and three shots on target. But Roma were more effective when they won 1-0 thanks to a close-range kick from Nicolo Zaniolo - a player who joined Turkish club Galatasaray.
However, Mourinho thinks that the next two Europa League quarter-finals will be very different because Feyenoord is in high form. They lead the Dutch league with 67 points from 28 matches, eight points ahead of Ajax. According to Mourinho, Feyenoord is a strong club, scoring many goals, possessing quality players, playing aggressively, can play directly with shots from the goalkeeper and it is difficult to find weaknesses. "Special person" said that Feyenoord is full of confidence and enthusiasm when he can soon win the domestic championship.
Meanwhile, Feyenoord coach Arne Slot has not forgotten last season's defeat and mocked the opponent's style. "Roma still has the same coach and Mourinho will still play the same way," said the Dutch coach. "The only change is that they brought in three quality players in Paulo Dybala, Nemanja Matic and Georginio Wijnaldum. Mourinho's style brings results, but I prefer to watch Man City and Napoli."
