Jose Mourinho inflates chest and reveals surprise exclusion

The Special One congratulated his boys.

Satisfied with the passage of the round in the Europa League Playoff that saw his Roma team oppose Salzburg (one of the teams ‘dropped’ from the Champions League after the group stage) José Mourinho recounted the emotions of the evening at the Olimpico to the microphones of Sky Sport, in the post-match.

“It was a beautiful Roma side that got an important result. The game was complete in all respects. We were a team, I liked everything. My staff did a fantastic job, we coaches are the end product of a lot of people. My guys did a perfect job of preparing the team in the best possible way,” he began.

The Special One then revealed a back story about the exclusion of one of his players, who appeared in great form in the last league match against Verona: “El Shaarawy was sacrificed, but I did it for a Plan B. There was no Abraham and Solbakken, he was the man to change the intensity and to play 20 minutes plus any extra time. I was sorry because he has been playing very well this past month. This also shows how things work between us: he accepted my decision and I am very happy. This victory was achieved against a Champions League team that has a lot of quality,” the Portuguese concluded.