It was not usual for it to happen, it became something almost common for it to happen. Over the years and a long career, José Mourinho begins to find names on the opposite side that also marked the successful career of the Portuguese coach as players and the trip from Roma to Genoa was the scene of another of these reunions, this time against the former Inter midfielder Dejan Stankovic. . And it was in this context that Marco Branca, former executive of the Nerazzurrispoke with Il Secolo XIX about the closing of the tenth day of Serie A, which I could leave the Romans instead of Champions.
“Joseph [Mourinho] was a winning coach during his time at Inter, Dejan [Stankovic] it functioned as one of our main pillars for several years. I am happy to see that they are now discussing a match between them and I am happy to see Dejan continue his coaching career by making the decision to return to Serie A for Sampdoria. In three years at Red Star Belgrade he showed that he is a good coach, qualifying for the Europa League twice and coming close to the Champions League. And Jose… I think that, sooner or later, he will be champion for Roma”. Branca commented.
“I spoke with Mou, he called me by video call before arriving in Genoa. I have a lot of respect for the coach and the person. I can’t add anything more about a coach who has 1,000 games behind him, while in the second he only debuted with Marassi. I had a wonderful journey with him, all the coaches gave me something. We win a lot but, in football and in life, there have to be goals. If in Estrela Vermelha it was to fight for the title, here we aim for salvation, but it’s the same. I want to win and dedicate the victory to Sinisa Mihajlovic. She has always been my reference in life, I call him dad from time to time and he gets angry. But because of his way of not giving up, of facing the day to day with strength, he taught me a lot, even thinking about what is happening. I want a world of good things for him, it’s as if we were of the same blood”, Stankovic had also highlighted in the prelude to the match.
Sampdoria needed points to escape bottom of Serie A, Roma looking to pick up more points after another Europa League draw against Betis. Equally or more importantly, he was trying to overcome another important loss due to injury, in this case of Paulo Dybala (who contracted a muscle problem in the penalty that made the decisive 2-1 against Lecce). “In a team like ours, injuries can appear… We feel sorry for Dybala but we trust the answer that other players can give. José Mourinho will look for other solutions, Belotti and Abraham played well together in the second half of the game against Betis. Dybala stops? He is doing well and very motivated. We will see how his recovery goes, but he is confident, ”he told DAZN Tiago Pinto, general manager of Roma.
The game was not brilliant but the Romans did more than enough to add their third consecutive victory in the Championship, with a penalty from captain Pellegrini that made the difference (9 ‘) in a game in which José Mourinho’s men created chances to close marker. early in the match but did not see Rui Patrício make even a small save in the entire match. Thus, and naturally, the visitors reached three more points. And, although he continued to put up with his goals this season, he climbed to fourth place in the Champions League with 22 points, one behind AC Milan, two behind Atalanta and four ahead of the leader. before the reception to the first classified Napoli.
Source: Observadora
