José Mourinho won’t be on the bench as Roma will tangle with Inter on Sunday since he was expelled late in the Monza game. Despite that, he’s poised to receive a warm welcome from the crowd, as was the case in recent encounters.
Per Kickest, the Special One has a poor track record against his former teams, coming up victorious just once in the past seven meetings. It happened on the eighth matchday last season when Roma prevailed 2-1 thanks to the goals from Paulo Dybala and Chris Smalling.
Mourinho will face the club where he arguably left the best memory besides maybe Porto. He won 67 matches in 108 games with Inter, conquering the historical treble before leaving to take over Real Madrid. The Nerazzurri Curva saluted him the last time out.
“Welcome home José.”
The Portuguese coach has faced the Nerazzurri on five occasions, collecting only one victory. He lost 0-2, 3-1, 2-0 in Coppa Italia, and 0-3 in the other matches.
Roma are unlikely to recover many pieces for Sunday’s crunch game. Mourinho kept it close to the vest concerning Smalling’s status after the Slavia Prague contest. The defender is unlikely to start even should he be an option. Dybala, Lorenzo Pellegrini, and Renato Sanches are expected to stay on the mend. Leonardo Spinazzola missed the midweek fixture due to muscle fatigue but should be fine for Sunday.
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