An away match against Bodo/Glimt once again proved to be problematic for Roma on Thursday, when they lost 2-1.
It wasn’t the 6-1 drubbing of the group stage meeting in Norway, but the hosts were again the winners in the first leg of the quarter-final reunion.
Roma had gone ahead via captain Lorenzo Pellegrini, who is now enjoying his most prolific season ever. However, Bodo/Glimt equalised through Ulrik Saltnes in the second half, before Hugo Vetlesen won it for them in the last couple of minutes.
It means Roma will have to overturn a deficit during next Thursday’s second leg at Stadio Olimpico, or their maiden Europa Conference League journey will be over.
But Jose Mourinho still thinks they are the favourites to progress. This is the bulk of his reaction.
On the manner of goals conceded
“The two goals are two [poor] goals to concede … one of them coming from a dead-ball situation. And those are always valuable goals – we’ve scored a lot of them ourselves – but they are the sort you are happy to score, angry to concede. There was a lack of concentration there.”
On his main concern
“The thing that really worries me is Gianluca Mancini’s injury, which immediately seemed a bit concerning – the sort of injury you pick up from playing on plastic pitches.”
On Pellegrini surpassing his best personal tally
“He should be scoring even more. With his quality, he should be scoring even more.”
On the officiating
“When we played against them in Rome last time, there were two clear penalties for us that the referee that night didn’t see. And, again today, in the first half there were two moments that were judged to be offside and in the second half one where there was a throw-in given. That gives a good summary of the level [of officiating].”
On what to expect back in Rome
“We’ve lost 2-1 tonight, but we still have a second leg to play. A second leg that will be at the Stadio Olimpico, in front of our fans. So I don’t have any problem in saying that I still feel we are favourites to reach the semi-finals.”
Leave a Reply