Roma boss Jose Mourinho has lashed out at Eldor Shomurodov following a heartbreaking 4-3 defeat at the hands of Juventus. Despite taking a two-goal lead early in the second half, the Giallorossi lost to Massimiliano Allegri’s side in the most shocking turn of events.
Tammy Abraham broke the deadlock in the 11th minute to fire Roma into an early advantage before Paulo Dybala levelled the score in the 18th minute. Mourinho’s men were off to a flying second-half start as Henrikh Mkhitaryan restored the home side’s lead three minutes from the break.
Captain Lorenzo Pellegrini slotted home a sublime free-kick from mid-range, doubling his team’s advantage in the 53rd minute. Though it then looked like Roma could stroll to an all-important win over fierce rivals, Juventus staged the most impressive comeback of the season so far.
Juve’s goals came from a couple of unlikely sources. Summer signing Manuel Locatelli pulled one back for the visitors in the 70th minute, with first-half substitute Dejan Kulusevski drawing Allegri’s side level just two minutes later. Second-choice full-back Mattia de Sciglio completed the comeback in the 77th minute with his first goal of the season.
However, it was not the end of the drama. Matthijs de Ligt’s stretched arm inside Juventus’ penalty area sent Pellegrini to the spot while handing the centre-back marching orders, courtesy of a second yellow card. Roma came close to avoiding defeat, but Wojciech Szczesny performed a vital save to thwart the midfielder’s attempt from the spot.
Roma’s shocking defeat in what is arguably the game of the season in Serie A left Mourinho fuming at Shomurodov. The former Genoa forward replaced Felix Afena-Gyan in the 71st minute and immediately lost tracks of Juan Cuadrado in the build-up to Juventus’ equaliser.
The Special One was furious with the way Shomurodov entered the game as he struggled to keep his nerve during the post-match interview.
“I don’t want to criticise too much, but I could,” Mourinho said as relayed by the Evening Standards. “Especially on some individuals. We had 70 minutes of absolute control, with the mentality and the desire to play.
“I subbed Felix [Afena-Gyan], who played a great game, and then the player who enters [Shomurodov] after only one minute is wrong. 3-2.
“If you have a strong mentality there is no problem but here there are some complexes because of which even last year they didn’t win the top matches. That goal killed us.“