Jose Mourinho was humble in victory after securing back-to-back European finals with Roma, where he could seal his third different continental crown.
It was another Mourinho masterclass in the second leg of the Europa League semi-final against Bayer Leverkusen as Roma churned out a hard-fought goalless draw at the BayArena on Thursday evening to advance to the final. Edoardo Bove’s strike in the first leg was enough to help the Romans have a shot at a European trophy in successive years after winning the Conference League in the previous campaign, which was their first major European trophy in history.
Mourinho said his side were tactically superior to Leverkusen and believes it was the “small details” coupled with the experience of his players that helped them get over the line.
“If we don’t have [Chris] Smalling on the bench, maybe we don’t win this game. We lost [Leonardo] Spinazzola and then [Mehmet] Celik, if we didn’t have him at that moment it would have been very difficult,” he continued.
“The small details make the difference. We can also thank Bove, who played from out of position on the right-hand side. The boys give everything, this game is the result of our work, experience, tactical wisdom, and knowing how to stay in matches. It’s an incredible team.”
