Jose Mourinho has prepared for Sunday’s Derby della Capitale in typical fashion by poking a gentle dig at Lazio boss Maurizio Sarri.
The two former Chelsea head coaches go head-to-head this weekend as Mourinho and Roma hope to get one over their fiercest rivals in their battle to secure a top-four finish. The Giallorossi go into the derby in seventh place, but can leapfrog their neighbours and move closer to Juventus, who currently occupy the final Champions League spot.
But Mourinho has joked that Sarri and his Lazio side have had the ideal preparation, whilst Roma were left to sweat in the Europa Conference League. The Italian side booked their place in the quarter finals on Thursday, with Tammy Abraham scoring a 90th minute goal to secure a 2-1 aggregate victory over Vitesse.
However, the Special One, suggested that this weekend’s opponents had the ideal preparation and were able to sit at home ‘smoking cigarettes’ with Sarri. The comment was in reference to the veteran coach’s smoking habit, previously admitting he could go through as many as 60-per-day.
“Obviously, I am not happy that we played today with many players who will also have to be there on Sunday, while tonight Lazio are home smoking cigarettes with Sarri, but it’s because Vitesse are really good!” Mourinho explained. “Now Sarri is at home smoking his cigarette while I go home trying to think how we can recover from this for Sunday.”
The Portuguese coach, who has had a rollercoaster first season in the Eternal City, took aim at some of his players following the 1-1 draw, accusing them of having “limitations at various levels. And it isn’t the first time Mourinho has come out and criticised his own team, previously ostracising a group of five for their performance in the Europa League humbling by Bodo/Glimt.
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“We expect more quality from everyone, not just Roma, but in the end someone goes home, someone goes into the draw, and fortunately we are the latter,” Mourinho told Sky Sport Italia on Thursday.
“This is a team with limitations at various levels, but if a few months ago everyone talked about us lacking determination, the ability to control a lead, the disaster against Juve, that we were winning 3-0 in Sofia and it ended 3-2, now people talk about our ability to resist pressure and score in the final minutes.
“It’s a trend at the moment, I think we’re now eight or nine games without defeat. I was glad that at 1-0 down, a situation of immense risk, a team might be tempted to wait and play extra time, but not us, we pushed to close the situation in regular time.
Mourinho and Sarri do have some previous and had to be separated on the Stamford Bridge touchline during a Premier League fixture back in 2018. The incident occurred when Mourinho’s Manchester United were denied a victory by a late Chelsea goal - with Mourinho taking offence to the manner of Sarri’s celebrations.
Mourinho also made the accusation that referees allowed Lazio to win the first meeting between the sides this season. “We dominated, we gave Lazio huge problems, they controlled the final minutes the way they wanted to, and because the referee allowed them to do so,” he said following the 3-2 defeat in September.
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