Coppa Italia: AS Roma deserved to lose, says Jose Mourinho
JAKARTA – AS Roma coach, Jose Mourinho, explained the reason why his team was eliminated from the Coppa Italia after being beaten by the bottom team in the Serie A standings, Cremonese.
The Capital City Wolves had to stop in the quarter-finals after giving up 1-2 to Cremonese. Even worse, the defeat occurred in front of their own supporters who packed the Stadio Olimpico, Rome, Italy, Thursday, February 2 in the early morning WIB.
Mourinho said, regardless of the player rotation he did, the defeat was deserved by AS Roma due to the poor performance of his squad in the first half of the game.
"I can say that the squad is struggling with rotation because there are three games in a week, but let's think about this one game. In the first half we paid the price", said the Portuguese tactician.
"They (Cremonese) deserve to be in the semi-finals. We paid for a terrible first half. Lowest level", he added.
Cremonese, winless in Serie A this season, took a two-goal lead at Roma through Cyriel Dessers' penalty and Zeki Celik's own goal. Andrea Belotti then scored a late consolation goal.
Before AS Roma was made to suffer, Cremonese first beat Napoli to reach the quarter-finals. Cremonese is now the first Serie A promoted team to reach the last four of the Coppa Italia since Cagliari in the 2004/2005 season.
"Congratulations to Cremonese. They have had two big wins against Napoli and Roma. It's a strange competition that favours small teams. They deserve this even more", said Mourinho.
This is the second successive defeat suffered by Roma in their last two matches in all competitions. They previously lost away to Napoli in Serie A on Monday.
"Today I can't say (anything). Others please comment. My job is to think about the next game", said the former Inter Milan coach.
"After more than a thousand games as a coach, I prefer to be objective and say that we played badly and we have to pay for it. We are a team and I don't want just one person to be responsible", he added.
Mourinho will then lead Belotti and friends to face another home match against Empoli in the league on Sunday, February 5.