Since taking charge of Roma in the summer of last year, José Mourinho lives on a kind of compensation theory: whenever he seems to be in a bad place, he picks himself up and turns it around with some theatrical trick. A victory against one of the main rivals after a defeat at home, the conquest of the Conference League after sixth place in Serie A, the signing of Dybala after the departure of Mkhitaryan “Mourinho always turns around.
And the logic remains this season. After the defeat against Udinese and the defeat against Ludogorets in the Europa League, Roma beat Empoli and reacted in European competitions against HJK. After the loss at home to Atalanta, they responded with an important win at the Giuseppe Meazza against Inter Milan. This Thursday, at the Olympic, it was time to prolong the reaction against Betis to match the Spanish in the lead of the Europa League group and get back into the race for classification.
Emperor of Rome, omnipresent in Milan: Mourinho beats Inter for the first time at San Siro
“We are facing a team that has a great coach [Manuel Pellegrini] and a game philosophy of its own. A rival that has been winning and that has experienced and international players. It is also difficult for them. They are eleven against eleven plus the 60 thousand in our favor in the stands. I trust my eleven and our people. We really need the three points, the three points we have are not enough”, said the Portuguese coach before the match.
Thus, in the Italian capital, Mourinho launched Dybala and Zaniolo in support of Abraham, with Cristante and Matic appearing in midfield flanked by Çelik and Zalewski. In the other side, in a Betis that added two victories in two days in the Europa League and is fourth in the Spanish league, neither William Carvalho nor Rui Silva were starters, with Willian José being the offensive reference for Pellegrini’s team.
???? Last preparation in view of #RomaRealBetis #UEL pic.twitter.com/f4fgniGZ5F
— AS Roma (@OfficialASRoma) October 5, 2022
Mourinho faced a setback in the opening minutes, forced to take Çelik off through injury and launched Spinazzola instead of the Turk. Betis came close to opening the scoring in the first 10 minutes, with Rui Patrício twice avoiding Canales’ goal (8′) and Fekir hitting the post (13′). Pellegrini ended up facing the same adversity that affected the Portuguese coach, having to change Fekir for Luiz Henrique due to an injury to the Frenchman, and the Spanish misfortune lasted until a penalty committed by Ruibal. In the conversion, Dybala opened the scoring (34′).
Roma’s lead, however, lasted just over five minutes. Right on the brink of breaking Rodríguez shot a good shot to beat Rui Patrício and tie the match (40′), and the Italians still had two chances to regain the lead through Zaniolo and Dybala. At the break, however, everything was tied in the Olympic.
DYBALA OPENS THE SCORE????
Mourinho’s team is ahead!#sporttvportugal #EUROPANASPORTTV #European League #UEL #UEFA # smell #grenade #realbetis #betis #dybala pic.twitter.com/UoVslaxrCY
— SPORT TV (@SPORTTVPortugal) October 6, 2022
The game remained tied for practically the entire second half, but at a time when both Mourinho and Pellegrini were already thinking about extra time, Luiz Henrique stamped the comeback (88′) and gave Betis the victory, leaving the Spanish at the head of Group C and Roma in third place with one point less than Ludogorets. This Thursday, the Portuguese coach was betrayed by his own theatrical blows -and not even the 60 thousand from the stands plus the eleven from the field were worth it-.
GOLAÇOOOO ⚽️
This was the Real Betis draw! #sporttvportugal #EUROPANASPORTTV #European League #UEL #UEFA # smell #grenade #realbetis #betis #guidorodriguez pic.twitter.com/ZW69hN94NX
— SPORT TV (@SPORTTVPortugal) October 6, 2022
Source: Observadora
