Sevilla claimed a record-extending seventh Europa League title as they beat Roma on penalties at a raucous Puskas Arena in Budapest.
Gonzalo Montiel, who also scored the winning penalty for Argentina in the World Cup final against France, repeated the trick for the Spanish side following a 1-1 draw, with a retaken spot kick after Roger Ibanez and Gianluca Mancini had missed for Roma.
Ahead of tonight’s UEFA Champions League final between Roma and Sevilla, Real Madrid manager, Carlo Ancelotti has predicted the winner of the encounter.
According to Ancellotti, Roma coached by Jose Mourinho will carry the day.
The match will be played at Puskas Arena between last year’s conference league winner Jose Mourinho and Europa’s highest winner Sevilla.
Roma are looking to win another Europa Cup trophy one year after winning the Europa Conference League.
Ancelotti, who played for the Italian club during his career, told Corriere dello Sport: “After a tough moment, Sevilla have done well in the last two months.
“Sevilla are well organised with a new coach, but Roma have their chances because they have an expert coach in the final. Hopefully they’ll win.”
Roma have never won the Europa Cup but Sevilla have won the title a record six times.
Italain side AS Roma have reached back to back finals on the continent after playing out a 0-0 draw at Bayern Leverkusen.
Roma are the champions in the maiden edition of the Europa Conference League following a 1-0 win over Feyenoord at the National Arena in Tirana, Albania last year and they have reached another final in Europe.
Roma produced a display of extreme resilience to edge past Bayer Leverkusen and reach successive European finals under Jose Mourinho.
Mourinho masterminded the Italian club’s first European trophy in over 60 years as they won last season’s Conference League in his first campaign in Rome. The Giallorossi – 1-0 up from the first leg – frustrated the Bundesliga outfit throughout the encounter.
Leverkusen were the only side to threaten a goal throughout the tie and enjoyed the lion’s share of possession, but were unable to make the breakthrough against a typically well-drilled Mourinho side – who will play in next month’s final.
Leverkusen were the only side to threaten a goal throughout the tie and enjoyed the lion’s share of possession, but were unable to make the breakthrough against a typically well-drilled Mourinho side – who will play in next month’s final.
The first half statistics reflected both the home side’s domination of the ball – 73 percent possession – and chances in front of goal – with 12 efforts compared to just one for Roma. It was Moussa Diaby who came closest for the host, the lively forward smashing his effort off the frame of the goal after Rui Patricio was beaten.
Xabi Alonso’s side continued to see chance after chance pass them by in the second half with Roma happy to drop off, defend their box and allow the home side to fire off chances that were not clear cut.
In a similar fashion, Sevilla have reached another final in the Europa league after defeating Juventus by 2-1 in Seville.
The result meant Sevilla won both ties 3-2 on aggregate and will get a shot at the trophy once again.
Sevilla will face Roma in the Europa final on May 31st, 2023.
Federico Gatti’s 97th minute goal earned Juventus a 1-1 draw against Sevilla in their Europa League semi-final first leg on Thursday in Turin.
Sevilla were going to run away with a 1-0 win before Gatti’s 97th-minute goal earned them a draw in the encounter,
Moroccan international En-Nesyri finished a sharp counter-attack in the 26th minute to break the deadlock in Turin.
Jose Luis Mendilibar’s side deserved their lead at the break and although Juventus improved, the Andalucians shut them out well in their bid to take their advantage back to the rowdy Ramon Sanchez-Pizjuan next week.
However Gatti nodded home from point blank range after substitute Paul Pogba headed the ball back into his path from a corner.
“It’s a shame, given the game that we played, that they levelled in the last play of the match, but it is what it is,” said Mendilibar.
“We stopped Juventus in every moment and we played well at times too, we have to think about that, not the last moment of the game.”
Sevilla, who dumped Manchester United out in the quarter-finals, have never been knocked out of the tournament in the semi-final stage.
The Spaniards, who won the Europa League at the Juventus Stadium in 2014, made themselves at home in the first half.
The hosts should have taken the lead when Dusan Vlahovic fired over, perhaps put off by Sevilla goalkeeper Yassine Bounou’s dive at his feet.
After that Mendilibar’s side started to impose themselves, with Lucas Ocampos playing a key role.
The Argentine winger, recalled from his loan at Ajax in January, sent a shot inches wide from close range, before making amends by setting up the opening goal.
Ocampos drove forward and played a low ball across the area, which Bryan Gil left for En-Nesyri to sweep home.
The forward has been in sensational form since the World Cup, with 16 goals in 2023 across all competitions.
“On the counter-attack we were caught out because we didn’t track back and left gaps,” Juve coach Massimiliano Allegri told Sky Sport Italia.
“(We) did well to fight back and get a deserved draw which leaves everything to play for in the second leg.”
Sevilla were dealt a blow when Ocampos limped off injured shortly afterwards, but stayed on the attack. Wojciech Szczesny tipped over an Ivan Rakitic drive from distance, while En-Nesyri curled narrowly off target.
Edoardo Bove scored the only goal of the game in the 63rd minute at the Stadio Olimpico in Rome, allowing Jose Mourinho’s side to take a slender lead into next week’s second leg in Germany.
The win gives Mourinho the chance to reach his second European final in as many years as Roma coach after winning the Europa Conference League last season.
Roma took the win despite having a host of players either out or barely fit to play, with stars Paulo Dybala and Georginio Wijnaldum only coming on in the final 15 minutes to help out an exhausted, largely second-string team.
The reverse fixtures will be played next week Thursday in Spain and Germany respectively.
Roma boss Jose Mourinho has reportedly been offered a massive deal to coach Saudi Arabia.
The Portuguese coach is enjoying his stint with the Italian capital club.
Mourinho won the UEFA Europa Conference League with Roma last season.
According to Il Corriere dello Sport, Mourinho has been promised up to £100 million if he decides to take on the international job of coaching the Saudi national side.
Mourinho, who has never worked as an international manager, has not commented on the matter.
The source adds that Mourinho has also been looked at by Al-Nassr, the Saudi club side where Cristiano Ronaldo plays.
Gianluca Mancini’s thunderous strike moved Roma up to fourth place in Serie A with a 1-0 victory over Juventus at Stadio Olimpico on Sunday.
The centre-back’s rasping second-half drive sealed three precious points, boosting Roma’s hopes of qualifying for the 2023/2024 UEFA Champions League.
After a week dominated by off-field headlines for head coach Jose Mourinho and former Juve playmaker Pablo Dybala, the Giallorossi claimed what could prove to be a huge victory.
Defeat will be a bitter pill to swallow for Massimiliano Allegri’s Juve side after a performance in which they will feel they did enough to earn a point.
Moise Kean was sent off in the closing stages, less than a minute after coming on, for kicking out at Mancini.
Knowing victory would edge them above AC Milan and into the top four on goal difference, Roma sought to impose themselves upon their visitors early on.
Yet Juventus were stubbornly defiant in front of a partisan crowd, and did their best to take the initiative themselves.
It was the Bianconeri who came closest to a breakthrough in the first half, when Adrien Rabiot saw his header saved by Wojciech Szczesny near the left post in the 43rd minute.
Emboldened by their support from the stands, the hosts broke the deadlock eight minutes after the interval.
That was when Mancini let fly from long range with his right foot and gave Szczesny no chance.
Juan Cuadrado almost levelled matters on the cusp of the hour with a superb free-kick that struck the post.
Juventus were unable to salvage a point and Kean was shown a straight red card for lashing out at Mancini soon after coming on, adding insult to injury.
Portuguese professional football manager, Jose Mourinho, has been treated to a rendition of ‘Happy Birthday’ from his Roma squad to celebrate his 60th birthday.
The former Chelsea, Real Madrid, Manchester United and now Roma manager, who turned 60 on Thursday- January 26, was surrounded by the Roma squad in their dressing room, accompanied by numerous members of his backroom staff, and was given a cake to mark the occasion.
Roma posted a video in tribute to the ‘Special One’ on their Twitter account on Thursday morning, January 26.
Watch the video below:
🎂 𝗝𝗠 💛❤️#ASRoma pic.twitter.com/mFlTIHLec8
— AS Roma (@OfficialASRoma) January 26, 2023
TheNewsGuru.com (TNG) reports that Mourinho is the current head coach of Italian Serie A club Roma.
Once dubbed “The Special One” by the British media, Mourinho is one of the most decorated managers ever and is widely considered to be among the greatest managers of all time.
After an uneventful career as a midfielder in the Portuguese leagues, Mourinho moved into coaching, first as an interpreter for Sir Bobby Robson at Sporting CP and Porto, before gaining success as an assistant at Barcelona under both Robson and his successor, Louis van Gaal.
After impressing with brief stints at Benfica and União de Leiria, Mourinho returned to Porto as manager in 2002, winning the Primeira Liga twice, a Taça de Portugal, the UEFA Cup and the UEFA Champions League, Porto’s first European Cup title since 1987.
That success earned him a move to England with Chelsea in 2004. Marked by his braggadocio during his early managerial career, Mourinho famously said “…I think I’m a special one”, which came to be a renowned moniker for him. With the club, he won two Premier League titles, an FA Cup and two League Cups in his three seasons at the club, before he departed in 2007 amid reports of disagreements with club owner Roman Abramovich.
In 2008, Mourinho joined Italian club Inter Milan, where he won Serie A twice, including a European treble of Serie A, the Coppa Italia and the UEFA Champions League in 2010, a first for an Italian club.
This made him one of five coaches to have won the European Cup with two clubs, and later that year, earned him the first FIFA World Coach of the Year.
Mourinho then moved to Real Madrid in Spain, where he won La Liga in 2011–12 with a record points tally, becoming the fifth coach to have won league titles in four countries. He also won a Copa del Rey and a Supercopa de España.
Mourinho left Real Madrid in 2013 and rejoined Chelsea, where he won another league title and League Cup, but was dismissed in 2015 after a poor run of results.
Remaining in England, he was appointed at Manchester United and Tottenham Hotspur respectively, but his tenure at both clubs were relatively short-lived and ended in acrimonious fashion.
Despite this, he won the UEFA Europa League, League Cup and FA Community Shield in his first season with Manchester United, and led Tottenham to the final of the League Cup.
He was soon hired by Roma, leading them to win the inaugural UEFA Europa Conference League — this made him the first manager to both reach and win the final of a major European competition with four different clubs, the third manager to have won all three major European club competitions and the first to achieve the UEFA treble by winning the Champions League, UEFA Cup/Europa League and Europa Conference League.
He was named Portuguese Coach of the Century by the Portuguese Football Federation (FPF) in 2015, and was the first coach to spend more than £1 billion on transfers.
Due to his tactical knowledge, charismatic and controversial personality, and reputation for prioritizing results over attractive football, he has drawn comparisons, by both admirers and critics, with Argentine manager Helenio Herrera.
Getafe loan signing Gonzalo Villar has slammed Roma coach Jose Mourinho.
Villar left Roma for Getafe this week, with the deal including a permanent option.
He told COPE: “It was a fantastic experience at Roma, up until a person arrived that we all know.
“I don’t want to talk about him, I prefer to stay quiet. After his arrival, my adventure with Roma was interrupted and that took me into some difficult situations.”
Villar had been on-loan with Sampdoria and also said: “I played a fair amount, but the financial situation was complicated. I wasn’t paid for several months. It is the most difficult situation I’ve experienced in professional football.”
The Portugal Football Federation has approached Roma manager, Jose Mourinho, about replacing Fernando Santos as the national team’s head coach.
It is believed they are ready to allow Mourinho to continue with the Serie A club ahead of Euro 2024.
According to Corriere dello Sport, the football federation is ready for a change after their 2022 World Cup exit against Morocco last week.
Santos, who won the Euro 2016, looks to be coming to the end of his time after a six-year spell.
And Mourinho has been identified as the right man to reverse Portugal’s fortunes in their next major tournament.
Portugal kick off their Euro 2024 qualifying chapter on March 23 against
Former Roma player Antonio Cassano slammed coach Jose Mourinho after Sunday’s 1-1 draw with Torino.
Cassano is furious with the way Mourinho has managed Roma this season.
He said on RAI: “Mourinho has to do only one thing, first of all talk about what his team is doing. The incredible thing is that even today he was caught with the ball for 70 minutes and nobody asks him the question.
“There are always extra problems, never one. Once he says he can’t get the team to play well, it’s always the fault of the others. In 20 minutes, (Paulo) Dybala came in, who is the strongest player, but then you have to take 10 players and he doesn’t have to go to the bench. The coach has to do something, he’s been doing nothing for a year and a half.”
On Rick Karsdorp, who was dropped for the game, Cassano added: “Mourinho ignoble, he is shameful. You can’t say hallucinating things about a boy, he also struggles to go out for breakfast. He blames others instead of thinking about his game. You talk to his face and that’s it.”