Jose Mourinho claims new Roma forward Andrea Belotti has "playmaker virus" as he looks to score the perfect goal.
The Italian made the move to the Stadio Olympico in the summer but only scored his first goal for his new employers on Thursday night in the Europa League. Belotti has previously been prolific in Serie A, scoring over 100 times in his last seven seasons, which has earned him international recognition.
Mourinho has looked to add more firepower to his outfit with Paulo Dybala also joining the Rome outfit. Tammy Abraham was the club's top scorer last term but now other players can shoulder the responsibility of finding the net.
The Special One has called on his players to be more ruthless in front of goal, claiming Belotti needs to score any which way. He said: "We have super-talented players up front, but we have to play meaner. We have to be mean when it comes to the attack. You must be mean and nasty if you want to put the ball into the back of the net.
"Belotti also seems to be suffering from this disease we have up front, today I saw him do four or five heel touches. This is not him. He has to score, with his knee, with his a**, with his head. He has the virus of a playmaking wizard, whereas he just needs to score. That’s it. We need to improve in terms of execution, the average of shots and goals made is not good."
Mourinho's comments come after Roma took their time in breaking down HJK Helsinki on Thursday, despite the Finnish side being down to 10 men. Dybala opened the scoring after 47 minutes before Lorenzo Pellegrini scored and Belotti rounded off the contest.
Will Mourinho ever return to the Premier League as a manager? Have your say in the comments below.The Special One commented: "We need to improve in building from the back. We have this difficulty, I try to hide it."
Belotti said after scoring his first Roma goal: “It’s an amazing feeling to score in front of your fans, to hear their roar. It was magical to hear them shouting my name. I am pleased with the goal and my performance for the team after we lost the first game. This needs to motivate us to do better going forward.”
He added on the competition within the squad: “I am here to be at the disposal of the coach and my teammates. We have an incredible coach who makes the decisions and when he sends us out there we have to show what we are capable of. There is Tammy Abraham and Eldor Shomurodov here as well and that’s a motivation for me to give my best every time, because they are top quality players and they show it every day.”
