Federico Fazio on harsh treatment at Roma: “I entered from a different gate, I never spoke to Mourinho”

Former Roma and Sevilla defender has spoken out about the harsh treatment handed to him by the Giallorossi, ahead of the Europa League final involving his two former clubs.

Fazio’s time at Roma didn’t end well and he had to lodge a case against the club as well. He spoke to La Repubblica recently about how things went down at the end of his stint at the Giallorossi and he revealed that he entered from a different gate as the others and Jose Mourinho never spoke to him.

“They put me out from the start, I don’t know if the club or Mourinho. I never spoke to him. I entered from a different Trigoria gate, so that I couldn’t meet anyone. They didn’t give me a chance. At the beginning, there were many of us who were out [of the project] – me, Florenzi, Pastore, Nzonzi, Olsen, Santon, my teammates did everything not to cross us. It was sad to end up like this after so many good years spent there, the semi-final of the Champions League, the record of 87 points”.

The defender also spoke about the secret of Sevilla’s excellent record in Europa League finals, as they have won all six that they have played in so far.

He stated: “I arrived in January 2007. they had just won the first but I immediately understood that there was something magical there. In fact, we eliminated Shakhtar with a goal from goalkeeper Palop. Then in 2014 we won the derby in the round of 16 with Betis. It’s like this, when you get there you hear people blindly believing that anything is possible.”

While there were initial doubts about whether Paulo Dybala could be fit to feature against the Andalusians or not, La Joya is now expected to start from the very first minute and that would be a huge boost for the Giallorossi. Fazio, who has played with Dybala for Argentina, spoke about his compatriot:

“For me he had a great season: the last few years at Juve haven’t gone well. But he had the courage to change to show that he is always at the highest level, in a big city like Rome.”

Fazio had played in Roma’s Champions League final against Liverpool four years ago and that is arguably one of Roma’s best European seasons so far in history.

Kaustubh Pandey | GIFN