Italian media outlet football-italia reported that after beating Vitesse 1-0 in the European Cup, Roma boss Jose Mourinho admitted that his team's 1-0 lead in the first half was too lucky. Mourinho also criticized Roma for losing control in the first half, saying he never felt he would concede a goal in the second half.
Screenshot of the football-italia report
Roma didn't play well in the first half of the European Cup away match against Vitesse, but oliveira scored a goal first. At half-time, Mourinho made three moves at once, with Veletu, Binha and Niles being replaced and Christant, Sharawi and Karstoop replaced. In the 78th minute of the second half, Oliveira was sent off with two yellows and one red, but Roma, who played 10 in the end, maintained a 1-0 score on the road until the end.
In an interview after the game, Mourinho admitted that the team's goal was lucky. "I admit we shouldn't be taking a 1-0 lead and going into half-time. Roma didn't do anything to try to score goals and we did have big problems but were lucky. But Roma did better in the second half, we controlled well defensively and there is no doubt that it was a very tough game. ”
Speaking about his decision to make three consecutive substitutions at halftime, Mourinho explained: "When you don't have a purely creative midfielder, you need to try different combinations. Velato and Oliveira didn't control the midfield but there were changes in the second half and I'm not saying Christant was better than Velato, I just wanted to say the team did better in the second half. ”
"It's hard for Wellertu to hold down opponents, and Neils is either, so Karlsdorp does a better job. I didn't think we were going to concede a goal in the second half. From the first day we came to Rome, we've been trying to build something. We're probably more stable now, and for the first time in a long time we have a full squad. Even in today's difficult moments, the team reacted well. Mourinho concluded.
After beating Vites, Roma will face Udinese in Serie A this weekend, and next week Roma will face Vites again at home.