Mourinho blames everyone but himself for Roma's failure to qualify for Champions League

The coach rotated his squad with six changes to the starting XI, keeping an eye on the upcoming second leg of the Europa Conference League semi-final against Leicester City

Mourinho blames everyone but himself for Roma's failure to qualify for Champions League
Jose Mourinho

Portuguese manager Jose Mourinho was critical of everyone after Roma’s 0-0 draw with Bologna. ‘

The team that wanted to win didn’t do enough, the team that didn’t want to win did what they intended and the referee let them do it.’

The coach rotated his squad with six changes to the starting XI, keeping an eye on the upcoming second leg of the Europa Conference League semi-final against Leicester City.

It didn’t pay off, because they failed to go beyond a 0-0 draw at the Stadio Olimpico, a result that means Juventus and Napoli are now mathematically qualified for the 2022-23 Champions League, as Roma can no longer catch them.

“The game did not have much quality. The team that wanted to win didn’t do enough, the team that didn’t want to win did what they intended, the referee let them do it. The result is a game without quality,” Mourinho told DAZN.

The coach has said many times that he has only 12-13 reliable players in the squad and he seemed to confirm it with this disappointing stalemate, but he had to rotate after Thursday’s Conference League 1-1 draw away to Leicester City, with the second leg coming up.

“The Conference League influenced us, of course, we are between a rock and a hard place. Obviously, playing Thursday and then the weekend is tough to do all season. Leicester rested nine players in the Premier league today.

“We tried to win, we had chances, but it was not a good performance. We have to take responsibility because we didn’t do enough to win. Bologna have a responsibility because they did what they wanted to do, and the referee’s responsibility is he never worried about the quality of the spectacle for the fans and let it all go.”

At the hour mark, Mourinho made a quadruple substitution, introducing Tammy Abraham, Lorenzo Pellegrini, Nicola Zalewski and Rick Karsdorp.

“I tried to introduce more quality, but the four players I introduced didn’t have the impact I expected. Tammy and Zalewski didn’t play well enough, Karsdorp and Pellegrini did some things.”

At least Nicolò Zaniolo played the full 90 minutes to confirm his fitness, so Mourinho was asked if the starlet will also start against Leicester City next Thursday?

“You are obsessed with Zaniolo, aren’t you? You in the media and referees are obsessed with Zaniolo!” laughed the coach as he walked