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Jose Mourinho broke tradition in Roma dressing room after Europa League defeat to Slavia Prague

Jose Mourinho broke tradition in Roma dressing room after Europa League defeat to Slavia Prague

Roma manager Jose Mourinho ripped into all but one of his players after the 2-0 loss in Prague.

Roma manager Jose Mourinho was so frustrated by his team's performance against Slavia Prague that he broke a dressing room tradition after Thursday's full-time whistle.

The Special One watched on at the Fortuna Arena as his side delivered a lacklustre display in their fourth Europa League clash of the 2023/24 campaign.

Second-half goals from Vaclav Jurecka and Lukas Masopust sealed a hard-fought win for the Czech side, who now top Group G on goal difference.

Roma, meanwhile, remain in a strong position to qualify ahead of Swiss Super League outfit Servette and Moldovan Super Liga leaders Sheriff.

But as we know, Jose Mourinho is a perfectionist. His side's outing in Prague was deemed unacceptable and he made his feelings known in some scathing post-match comments.

Mourinho, who often remains calm and collected in the dressing room after a defeat, decided to voice his thoughts after the 2-0 defeat.

After being asked what was missing in the game, he said: "Everything."

The 60-year-old added: "I don’t want to talk much. The players’ decision not to talk to the media was my decision. Belotti spoke because it was straight after the game. No one should speak because there’s not much more to say other than what I have to say.

"Slavia Prague really deserved that result, in a positive way, and we really deserved it too, in a negative way.

"I didn’t like anything. I’ve already spoken to the players in the changing room. I don’t normally do that because I get so much adrenaline from being on the sideline but the fact that I watched it from above, far away from the pitch, gave me a different type of tranquillity that allowed me to go and talk to the players.

"What I said stays between us. I only want to be honest with the Slavia players, who deserved to win 2-0.

"Nothing worked. In the first game we played against them, they played very similarly to how they did today, and we’d prepared our game plan in a very similar way. The fact that [Nicola] Zalewski wasn’t able to play, and El Shaarawy played as a wing-back with Belotti up top on the left, could be used as an excuse.

"But we were so bad that I don’t want to."

Image credit: Getty
Image credit: Getty

He added: "Nothing worked. In terms of individuals, very few of the players had the right attitude, the professional attitude I demand. Lots of the players had the wrong attitude for a serious game where there were goals to achieve.

"I’m disappointed. I don’t want to talk anymore because I’ve already done my analysis with the players, and I’ll do it tomorrow."

The former Manchester United and Chelsea manager would, however, single out midfielder Edoardo Bove as the only player to display the "right" attitude in their Europa League defeat.

"He didn't deserve to lose," Mourinho added.

Featured Image Credit: Getty Images

Topics: Jose Mourinho, AS Roma, Europa League