AS Roma coach José Mourinho hopes to be able to call on Paulo Dybala again on Thursday in the second duel with Feyenoord in the quarterfinals of the Europa League. The Argentinian striker fell out early on with a muscle injury in the first leg, won 1-0 by Feyenoord in De Kuip.
Without Dybala, AS Roma beat Udinese 3-0 on Sunday. “I am more positive than negative,” Mourinho said about a possible return of the attacker to Feyenoord on Thursday. “But it’s still a maybe.”
Just like against Feyenoord, Roma again missed a penalty kick. This time it was not Lorenzo Pellegrini, but Bryan Cristante, who failed from 11 meters. Pellegrini was responsible for the 2-0 shortly after the break. Mourinho said he had discussed this with his captain beforehand.
“I thought he didn’t need that extra pressure. I told him: if there is a penalty at 2-0, it’s yours. If there is a decisive penalty it is not yours. He played great today. The fact that some nasty comments were posted on social media about him after Feyenoord is just the world of today.”
With the victory, Roma settled a little more firmly in third place in Serie A. ,,There was a good reaction from the team, even though you could see the fatigue. The result may make the game look easy, but I only felt a little peace at 3-0. Now we forget the competition for a few days and focus on our European game. I believe we can move forward.”
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