AS Roma’s success in winning the Europa Conference League cannot be separated from three former members of Manchester United. Then, when can the Red Devils win another trophy?
Roma face Feyenoord in the final at the Air Albania Stadium, Thursday (26/5/2022) early this morning. This was Roma’s first European final since 1984.
Roma finally became champions after winning 1-0 thanks to a goal from Nicolo Zaniolo in the 32nd minute. After not winning a trophy for a long time, since 2008, Roma and their fans have been able to celebrate.
This is Roma’s first trophy in European competition, while Mourinho has proven that he is not finished and can still make history as the first coach to win the Champions League, Europa League/UEFA Cup and Conference League titles.
There is something unique about Roma’s success in winning the competition, which is said to be the third caste in Europe, which is related to Manchester United. Incidentally, apart from Mourinho as a former manager, there are also two former MU players namely Henrikh Mkhitaryan and Chris Smalling.
Both started the game and played the full 90 minutes. Mourinho, Mkhitaryan and Smalling were part of the MU squad that won the 2016/2017 Europa League, after a 2-0 win over Ajax Amsterdam.
For the record, Smalling and Mkhitaryan were also starters at that time. Mkhitaryan was the first to leave Manchester United after being released to Arsenal in January 2018, as a substitute for Alexis Sanchez.
Then, Mourinho was sacked in December 2018 and replaced by Ole Gunnar Solskjaer. Smalling was the last to be sacked by Manchester United when he was sold to Roma in 2020.
The irony for United is that during those five years, they have never won anything and the three expelled men have won at the same club.
“The greatest thing about my career is that, apart from the Europa League trophy with Manchester United, it feels very, very special to win with Porto, Inter and Roma. It’s normal to win when people are favoring you, when you’re already slacking off. But it’s different. it feels, when you win something that will last forever, it feels very special,” said Jose Mourinho Sky Sports.
(mrp/raw)
