José Mourinho he doesn’t go too far, he keeps his enthusiasm low and announces the recovery of the big names: «Dybala, El Shaarawy and Smalling are available». In view of the second leg against Bayer Leverkusen, the coach remains focused: «I don’t want to talk about my future. There’s a game to play tomorrow which isn’t even the final, it’s the semi-final. The focus is on the match, I’m not even thinking about the final, nor about my future». Here is the full press conference.
Are Dybala, El Shaarawy and Smalling available?
“They are all available to play. Only Karsdorp, Llorente and Darboe are not».
Can winning or not the Europa League affect your future?
“I do not wanna talk about it. There’s a game to play tomorrow which isn’t even the final, it’s the semi-final. The focus is on the match, I’m not even thinking about the final, nor about my future».
Compared to the five times you’ve reached a European final, is there anything special if you do so?
«The present is more important, the past is the past, we don’t know the future. With Porto I have played two European finals in two consecutive years and I want to get there. Not so much for me, because I’ve become a different person who thinks more of others than of himself, but for the boys and the fans.
The fans because they are extraordinary, the boys because they are an incredible group, they are having a season in which they give everything, there have been moments of difficulty and they deserve so much. In football nobody gives you anything and we will have to play an extraordinary game to reach the final».
Can Dybala and Smalling play starters together?
«The question is how long they can play, not due to the injury but due to the fact that Chris hasn’t played even a minute and Paulo only 30. Smalling has been training for three weeks, but not with the team, Paulo also trains less. I have to think about how many minutes they can play and I have to think about what is best for the match puzzle. The two of them, like El Shaarawy and Wijnaldum who played 60 minutes in Bologna, are available».
The bookmakers’ odds give Roma the favorite to win the Cup. Do you have this consideration?
«Superstitious zero, bookmaker zero, feeling like a favorite zero. What I have been saying for 20 years is that when you get to the semifinals there is a 25% chance of winning the competition and a 50% chance of getting to the final. I don’t know which direction tomorrow’s match will take, it’s hard to say. What we want to do is get to the final. We don’t know if we’ll get to penalties, extra time, if we’ll lose and win. I just know that there’s a lot to play for, it’s still a very long time, the result of the first match is 1-0».
Of the four semi-finalists, the only one not relegated from the Champions League is Roma. Does this mean that she has more right than the others to win the Cup?
«If I didn’t have the ambition to win it, I would have already said that we won it. But this is theory, in practice one of the four takes her home. But I want to be clear, how much respect for Bayer as a team, but that experience makes us think and say it’s 1-0 for us at half time. A team that has played 14 games in the Europa League and is built to play it is much more valuable than one that makes investments and thinks about the Champions League group right from the start. It is also the beauty of the Europa League with potential difference teams. There was a difficult group stage with Betis who were strong, then playoffs with Salzburg who were in the Champions League, then Real Sociedad who will play in the Champions League next year, Feyenoord who are Dutch champions. It has been a tough journey. This is all theory, let’s think about tomorrow”
The great performances that Roma made in the second leg were always at home, how important is it to have the fans close by?
«Roma didn’t score in San Sebastian, but they qualified. If the question is it better to play at home or away, I say it’s better to stay at home with our team. But I also say that the first home game against Bayer Leverkusen was mentally difficult for us. Playing the first home game that you theoretically have to win was very difficult. We hope to win tomorrow and go to the final».
1970-01-01 00:00:00
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