Roma finally got the better of Bodo/Glimt – and in emphatic fashion – with a 4-0 win on Thursday to set up a semi-final with Leicester City in the Europa Conference League.
After failing to win either of their group-stage meetings and losing the first leg 2-1, Roma were much stronger this time around. They equalised on aggregate within five minutes when Tammy Abraham scored his 24th goal of the season.
Then, Nicolo Zaniolo scored a well-taken hat-trick to put Roma well and truly in the driving seat. They ultimately won 5-2 on aggregate to make it to the last four, where they will meet Leicester City.
The first leg will be at the English club’s King Power Stadium on April 28th before the second leg at Stadio Olimpico one week later.
Here’s how Jose Mourinho reacted to Roma’s progress.
On when he was confident Roma would advance
“The way we played from the very first minute, with good pressing, intensity and quality on the ball. I think that even when it was still just 1-0 or 2-0, all of us knew that we had the game won.”
On the style of play
“I think that we play much better than some people seem to think. I watched the game back against Salernitana and in the second half we played some really good stuff. We have played some really good football in games. I think it’s too easy to say that we have ‘spirit’, that we haven’t lost for so long because we are ‘well-organised’ … I think we actually play much better than people say. Today we were simply the better side.”
On not matching the 6-1 scoreline from the group stage
“At the half-time break I told the players not to try and humiliate them, not to try to score six goals just because they scored six against us – but to focus on getting into the semi-finals in the best way possible, and that is by dominating the ball and the game.”
On hat-trick hero Zaniolo
“We were able to hide the fact that he was going to play. Everyone said that he would be in the bench again, but I knew perfectly well that a player like him is important in games like this in order to get in behind teams, and he did that really well. Obviously we are all really happy for him, and tomorrow I expect to at least see him on the front page of the newspapers for positive reasons.”
On the upcoming challenges
“The fans are fully behind the team. The empathy, the passion… it’s very, very positive. Now we go to face Napoli and if they are going into the game trying to win the title, we are going there to try and win to finish fifth.”
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