Jose Mourinho bemoans Roma’s lack of attacking options despite WINNING against Real Sociedad

After an emphatic 2-0 win over Real Sociedad, setting his Roma side up nicely for the second leg of their Europa League Round of 16 tie, it would be reasonable to think that Jose Mourinho would have no cause for complaint. 

When the whistle blew at the Stadio Olimpico, the Giallorossi manager laughingly bemoaned his European squad’s lack of attacking depth. 

Mourinho highlighted the choice that manager Julian Nagelsmann has at Bayern Munich, contrasting it with his own limitations in the Italian capital. 

‘Against PSG, Bayern had Gnabry, Mane and Sane on the bench,’ the storied manager pointed out after the final whistle. 

‘Just one of them would have been enough for me. 

But substitutions did pay off for Mourinho: Marash Kumbulla (right) who was introduced after half-time produced a bulleted header that bypassed Sociedad goalkeeper Alex Remiro

Bayern’s incomparable squad depth paid dividends when substitute Serge Gnabry scored late

‘Like this, I could have replaced Dybala and perhaps score one more goal.’

All three of Bayern’s players mentioned by Mourinho were brought off the bench by Nagelsmann against Paris Saint-Germain, and Gnabry scored a minute before time to bring the Bundesliga behemoth’s aggregate goal tally to 3-0. 

Bayern progressed to the Champions League quarter-finals at the expense of PSG, whose failure to create an impact in the competition despite a wealth of impressive talent rolls on.  

The comments, as per La Gazetta dello Sport, came as the Portuguese manager discussed his reasoning behind naming goalscorer Stephan El Shaarawy over Leonardo Spinazzola in the starting line-up. 

‘It was a strategic and tactical choice. It wasn’t easy to choose because I only had a striker on the bench given that Ola Solbakken is not on the Europa League list.’ The former Chelsea coach added. 

Solbakken joined Roma from Bodo/Glimt in the January transfer window and as such, was not able to be registered for the team’s European squad. 

Mourinho is no stranger to handing out outlandish commentary in his press conferences, and whilst he said in 2015 he did not compare himself to other managers, he is clearly not above comparing his squads to other European teams. 

Mourinho praised his team’s ‘strong mentality’ in their handy Europa League win on Thursday

But despite his early grumblings, Mourinho was otherwise delighted by his players’ performance against Spanish opposition. 

‘[Real Sociedad] had the ball and created problems. The merit of us, of the boys, was the organisation and empathy on the pitch between them.

‘You have to have a strong mentality when you don’t have a lot of the ball,’ he added.  

‘We missed the ball a little, but I’m happy with what the boys did, I can’t ask for more.’ 

Roma won the inaugural Europa Conference League last year under the legendary manager – who has previously worked at Inter Milan, Real Madrid, Tottenham, and Manchester United too – and a strong first-leg victory keeps them in the hunt for more European glory. 

Next season could have the Roman club focused on an even greater glory, with the team currently fourth in Serie A and in contention for a Champions League place next season.