Roma’s Jose Mourinho takes shot at Lazio boss Maurizio Sarri

Roma boss Jose Mourinho took a sly shot at Lazio boss Maurizio Sarri following the Giallorossi’s recent 3-1 loss to Atalanta.

As a result of the loss, Roma dropped to fifth in the table in Serie A, having already qualified for the semi-finals of the UEFA Europa League. Lazio are second in the league and were knocked out of both the Europa League and then the Conference League.

Goals from Rafael Toloi, Teun Koopmeiners and Mario Pasalic made sure that La Dea grabbed all three points in Bergamo but in the post match press conference, Mourinho didn’t hesitate to take a snide shot at Sarri and how the Italian has prioritised the league over Europe.

Mourinho said: “Maybe a defeat against Feyenoord would have been better to fight until the end to get into the top four. But I’m not used to choosing between Europe and the league. I’m not used to going out of Europe to focus on Serie A. If I had done that, at this point we would have only had 7 more games and could focus on those, without pressure or excessive worry.

“In my career I’m used to having top squads, with 22-24 interchangeable starters. Once Benzema and Higuain played. I used to line up Drogba and then Crespo. But we want to go ahead in both competitions. I know there is a risk of not winning the Europa League and falling out of the top four in the league, but there is also a risk of winning the cup and finishing in the top four.”

Lazio boss Sarri has been vocal about club’s lack of squad depth and reports have suggested that he wants the club to invest in making sure that the problem in the squad is rectified next season. Considering that, it is quite fair that the Biancocelesti have chosen to focus on one competition in the campaign.

Kaustubh Pandey | GIFN