Jose Mourinho storms down tunnel BEFORE half-time as Roma suffer embarrassing Coppa Italia exit to Serie A’s bottom team
JOSE MOURINHO furiously stormed down the tunnel before half-time during his Roma side’s humiliating 2-1 Coppa Italia defeat to Cremonese.
The former Chelsea and Man Utd boss, 60, was expected to lead his side to a quarter-final victory over Serie A‘s bottom club at the Stadio Olimpico on Wednesday evening.
Roma crashed out of the Coppa Italia on Wednesday eveningRex
Jose Mourinho went down the tunnel several minutes before half-timeRex
But they fell behind shortly before the half hour mark when Cyriel Dessers scored from the penalty spot after being brought down by keeper Rui Patricio.
And in the 43rd minute, Mourinho had seen enough as he headed off to the dressing room.
Upon his return for the second half, the Portuguese coach made four substitutions in a pointed statement to his players.
However, Roma went 2-0 down just four minutes after the restart when right-back Mehmet Zeki Celik turned the ball into his own net.
Mourinho’s men pressed for a way back into the game as Tammy Abraham struck the post, before they did get one back in stoppage-time through Andrea Belotti.
But it proved to be merely a consolation as the Italian giants were dumped out by struggling Cremonese.
Speaking after the game, Mourinho told Mediaset: “We lose because of horrible first half, really of a very low level.
“Afterwards, in the second half we are penalised by an individual error, which is out of context. They make it 0-2 and then we show a good reaction, but they defended with a lot of people in the back. With a little bit of luck, we could have scored earlier.
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“I’ve learned not to cry in defeat and look forward to the next one.
“This is a squad that struggles to rotate and even more so with three games in a week.
“I was proud of my team after we lost to Napoli because we deserved a better result. That’s not the case tonight.
“In my mind this game is over and I’m thinking about the next one.”
Roma will now turn their attention towards Serie A and the Europa League.
They sit sixth in the Italian top flight, one point adrift of a Champions League place.
And they will face RB Salzburg in the play-off round of the Europa League, with the first leg on February 16.
