José Mourinho will have very few men at his disposal against Verona. On top of the suspension and previous injuries, Roma announced four COVID-19 cases today. Henrikh Mkhitaryan, Carles Perez and Eldor Shomurodov will miss the game, La Gazzetta dello Sport informs.
Nicolò Zaniolo is in doubt as well due to a quad issue. The gaffer weighed in: “He is currently not among the nine men that are unavailable, but we will have to evaluate him in practice later today.”
“I am not nostalgic seeing other teams in the Champions League. I had the privilege of coaching 150 matches in such competition. I am not whining now because we are in Conference League. Moreover, I have not seen great games this week. Only Inter-Liverpool was nice.”
Mourinho looked back at the previous Verona bout when Roma suffered their first loss of the season: “It was a long time ago, and it was cold and rainy. They have great quality, and it will be a tough contest. They have a capable young coach, and his side has taken after him. He was smart because he kept the same successful style they had in the last campaign.”
The manager lauded the Giallorossi fans: “It is incredible that they are still following us en masse us despite our results this seaon. They have always been there for us. Our players must feed off their passion. We have many absences, and so there will be some problems. Unfortunately, I will have to gut the Primavera team, but we need youngsters to have a bench.”
Mourinho closed by assessing Tammy Abraham: “He is playing well, but he can do better. He needs the rest of the squad to do more for him and vice versa. Coming over from England was not easy.”