Former Roma director Tiago Pinto admits relieving Jose Mourinho of his duties left him heartbroken as he failed to handle the situation emotionally. They were influential figures at the Stadio Olimpico for nearly three years before leaving the club in less than a month.
One of Pinto’s final acts as the Roma chief executive was the sacking of Mourinho in the wake of a 3-1 thumping at Milan in mid-January. The Portuguese’s successor, Daniele De Rossi, has turned the team’s fortunes around during his early tenure. However, that hasn’t changed Pinto’s emotional stance on this matter.
“That was a very difficult day. I am still young, I don’t know if older directors deal with it differently, but I felt like dying when sacking the coach,” the ex-hierarchy member said, as quoted by TMW. “When a coach is fired, it means you too did some things wrong.“
It didn’t take long before Pinto followed in Mourinho’s footsteps. Despite having almost half a year left to run on his contract, he severed ties with Roma in February after four years of service. During his time in the capital, he helped the self-proclaimed ‘Special One’ lead Giallorossi to their first continental success.
Roma won the maiden edition of the Europa Conference League in 2021/22 before suffering a heartache in the Europa League final the following year. But after steamrolling past Brighton in this season’s round of 16, the Italians could have another shot at the second most prestigious continental title.
But to do that, Roma will have to overcome fierce Serie A rivals Milan in the quarter-finals.
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