The only news that seemed to matter this week for Roma is that Jose Mourinho will be the new coach for next season. The ‘Special One’ will come in and try to take Roma to the next level just like he did with Inter and this will be the first time that Mourinho will return to Italian football in 11 years.
The last time Mourinho was in Serie A will never be forgotten. He won the treble with Inter including the 2010 Champions League and that was the clubs first European Cup since 1965.
His appointment has been met with mixed reaction though. Inter fans are not happy obviously but some of Roma’s fans aren’t quite sure either. He is welcomed and more so given that Paulo Fonseca the current coach has not done the required job. But are Roma getting vintage Mourinho or a coach who is to stuck in his ways and hasn’t moved on? That’s the problem and although Mourinho did win trophies at Chelsea and Manchester United both of those jobs quickly turned sour and he was sacked. Of course Tottenham sacked him just a month ago and he left empty handed. If anything his time at Roma is going to be roller coaster drama and his presence in Italy will be filling the column inches no doubt.
As for this season Roma have slipped out of a direct route into European competition. The Giallorossi lost their 11th game of the season this past weekend going down at Sampdoria 2-0 and that was their 2nd loss in a row. Indeed Roma’s last victory came back on April 11th and they are now in 7th place. That position is good enough to be entered into the qualifying stages of the Europa League but not the competition proper. The club are 9 points from that target with 4 games left so the best they can hope for will be the qualifying stages. Even then that is in doubt as they only hold a 2 point advantage over Sassuolo.
The defeat to Sampdoria would have hurt because Borja Mayoral had a goal disallowed and Edin Dzeko missed a penalty. This has clearly been a poor period for the club but they will hope that the announcement of Mourinho as coach will propel the team to have a strong finish in Serie A.
Today Roma will play their 2nd leg in the Europa League semi-finals although that tie feels like a dead rubber given that they lost 6-2 to Manchester United in the first leg. More than a miracle will be needed tonight to turn this game round.
Roma will play Crotone at home this weekend and they will be the odds on favourites to win that game.
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