Jose Mourinho has moved to reignite his long-standing rivalry with Pep Guardiola after guiding Roma to this season’s Europa League final.
Mourinho masterminded the Italian club’s first European trophy in over 60 years as they won last season’s Conference League in his first campaign in Rome. The Portuguese coach has now overseen the Giallorossi’s to this season’s showpiece of Europe’s secondary competition, where they will play Sevilla.
Roma – 1-0 up from the first leg – frustrated Bayer Leverkusen in Thursday’s goalless second leg in Germany. The Italian side had just one shot, not in target, throughout the match compared to the Bundesliga outfit’s 29 efforts while Roma had a meagre 28 percent of possession.
The Portuguese coach was, somewhat understandably, asked about his approach after the match. Mourinho spoke about the players that were unavailable for his side while also taking aim at Manchester City.
Mourinho explained in his post-match press conference: “The only teams that do not suffer are those exceptional teams that they have on the bench €40million or €70million players. If you look at City’s semi-final, they brought on Julian Alvarez, Phil Foden and Riyad Mahrez in the second half.
“If we lose four or five players then we suffer. That is natural. At Roma, we have players out injured and others who have not had transfer fees must come in. We invested €7million in the market and we are in the final. What we have done is extraordinary."
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Mourinho’s comments came just a day after Guardiola’s City qualified for the Champions League final having blown away Real Madrid at the Etihad Stadium. The home side recorded 60 percent possession and recorded 16 shots on goal as they ran out comfortable four-goal victors.
The duo were painted by the media as arch enemies when Guardiola was coach of Barcelona and Mourinho in charge of Real Madrid. Their rivalry was revived years later when the Catalan boss joined City in 2016, with Mourinho turning up at Manchester United the same summer.
Guardiola’s first big break in coaching came when he was appointed Barca coach in 2008 having been B team coach at the club – with his appointment surprisingly coming at the expense of Mourinho, then in his pomp. The two have sharply contrasting styles of play and views on coaching.
After Roma’s success on Thursday night, Mourinho let his emotions show as he was tearful on the touchline at full-time before going over to the away section of the stadium to pay tribute to his club’s supporters who had made such a long journey.
Roma will now take on the competition’s record six-time winners Sevilla in the final in Budapest on 31 May. Not only is silverware on offer for both clubs but also a place in next season’s Champions League, with Roma currently sixth in Serie A and Sevilla tenth in La Liga.
