Jose Mourinho met the media in Sofia on Wednesday evening, to preview Roma's Europa Conference League group stage meeting with CSKA Sofia. The game on Thursday gets underway at 18:30 CET. The Giallorossi - already qualified for the knockout phase of the competition - know that they need to win in Bulgaria to have any chance of topping the group. Here is what Mourinho had to say about the contest...
What sort of game are you expecting?
“We want to win and to try and have the possibility of topping the group. We know that it won’t be easy. In my opinion CSKA are better than their results in the group would suggest. Even against us [in the first meeting] they played well. But we want to try and win.”
What are Roma’s targets in this competition now? Could tomorrow’s result end up having a big impact on the rest of your season?
“I don’t think tomorrow’s result will, no, because we have already qualified for the knockout phase. If the game tomorrow was going to decide that, then it would be a different matter. Tomorrow’s game can only decide whether we finish first or second in the group. But our targets for this competition are significant. Eight teams will come down from the Europa League – quality sides. But, despite that, we can’t hide away from the fact that we want to go far in this competition.”
What sort of team selection will we see from you tomorrow?
“We’ve left out injured players, obviously, because we haven’t got any of them back for this game. We’ve left a few others at home too; we’ve got a lot of games, we have a lot of players carrying issues that need to be managed carefully. We can’t take risks with everyone. Nevertheless, we will put out the strongest side we can, with three, four or five regular starters in the line-up. Then we have a few young players we have also brought with us. But the aim is not to change things too much – because we want to win and because we respect CSKA’s threat.”
How much have you changed in the last 17 years, since you won your first Champions League title in 2004?
“I don’t think I have changed much. A lot of time has passed. But I have the same passion and the same ambition. Perhaps now I have more experience, to know how to manage different moments that you can go through over the course of a season. That season you mention I had the dream of winning the Champions League; this season I have the dream of winning the Conference League. Obviously they are two different competition, but that’s the competition we are in. Let’s see if it is possible to win it – we would be the first. It would be a historic moment. Let’s see if we can do that.”
You’ve played in Bulgaria a few times now – what is your history like with Bulgarian football?
“I remember that there was a generation in the 1980s and 1990s that was a bit of a golden generation for Bulgarian football. In Portugal there was a small invasion of Bulgarian footballers with great talent during that period. That’s why I have so much respect for [CSKA Sofia coach] Stoycho Mladenov. They weren’t just good players, but good men too. Stoycho went and played in a small town a bit like my hometown. Then, when I went to Barcelona, I ended up working with the No. 1 Bulgarian player and the best player in the world at that time, Hristo Stoichkov. So every time I come back to Bulgaria – and I came back twice last season – I always come back with this feeling that I am coming home, I’m coming back to be with my friends. But unfortunately for 90 minutes tomorrow we won’t be friends – and we will be trying to find a way to win.”
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Source: legaseriea.it