Jose Mourinho mentioned Roma deserved to pay for a “horrible” first-half efficiency in Wednesday’s shock 2-1 Coppa Italia quarter-final defeat in opposition to Cremonese.
Cremonese – who’re with out a win in Serie A this season – took a two-goal lead in Rome by means of Cyriel Dessers’ penalty and Zeki Celik’s personal aim, earlier than holding on after Andrea Belotti pulled one again late on.
Having additionally surprised Napoli within the earlier spherical, Cremonese turned the primary promoted Serie A aspect to achieve the Coppa Italia’s last 4 since Cagliari within the 2004-05 marketing campaign.
Mourinho made a outstanding quadruple substitution at half-time after storming down the tunnel early, and he mentioned the Giallorossi might haven’t any complaints following their dire begin.
“Congratulations to Cremonese. They’ve achieved two nice victories in opposition to Napoli and Roma, it’s a wierd cup that favours small groups, they’ve much more benefit for this,” he mentioned.
“They’re deservedly within the semi-final, we pay for a horrible first half, of a low degree.
“I can say that this squad struggles with rotation, with three matches in every week, however let’s take into consideration this single match, and within the first half we deserved to pay the value.
“Soccer is like this, this occurs with the highest groups and with the smaller groups. In Naples [in Sunday’s 2-1 loss at Napoli] we deserved extra and for this I used to be proud, even after the defeat.
FULL TIME
IMMENSI!!!
Si vola in semifinale!! #RomaCremonese –#SolAmAi #ForzaGrigiorossi #DaiCremo #CoppaItalia pic.twitter.com/c1fbVdg7sC
— U.S. Cremonese (@USCremonese) February 1, 2023
“At present I can’t say, others can remark. My job is to consider the following sport.
“After greater than a thousand video games as a coach, I choose to be goal and say that we performed badly and we paid. We’re a crew and I don’t need to make a single particular person accountable.”
Mourinho was additionally requested about Nicolo Zaniolo, who requested to be welcomed again into the fold through an open letter on Wednesday after requesting a transfer in the course of the January switch window.
Having described the chance of Zaniolo remaining on the Stadio Olimpico as “unlucky” final week, Mourinho was unwilling to debate the 23-year-old’s future, saying: “The possession was very clear and I received’t make any sort of remark.”