It's advertised as a showdown between master and apprentice. When AS Roma travels to Leicester City on Thursday, Jose Mourinho will meet up with his former student Brendan Rodgers. Both teams are hoping to win the Europa Conference League's inaugural edition, which is turning up to be one of UEFA's most competitive championships.
Leicester City will put Roma to the test.
Since joining Roma last summer, Mourinho has performed admirably. With the Giallorossi in fifth place in Serie A, the Portuguese manager has the Giallorossi challenging for a Champions League spot. The former Chelsea and Manchester United coach, on the other hand, is a serial winner who has won trophies at every club he has coached, with the exception of a brief tenure with Tottenham Hotspur. As a result, he will also be attempting to win the Europa League with Roma this season. To do so, he'll have to defeat Rodgers' Leicester.
Both managers are quite familiar with each other, having previously worked together, yet they currently have opposing ideologies, and their clubs play in opposite ways. Mourinho has impressed throughout his time at Roma, but reaching the Europa Conference League final will be his toughest test yet, and it will be interesting to watch how he handles it.
In Serie A, Roma is eight points behind fourth-placed Juventus, effectively eliminating them from Champions League qualification. Securing a place in the Europa League, on the other hand, could be considered a success, and it would be even better if the Giallorossi could complete the season with a trophy. Mourinho joined Roma to rebuild his reputation after being chastised for his work at Manchester United and Tottenham. As a result, the semi-final match against Leicester is a crucial opportunity for Mourinho to disprove his doubters. In his pre-match press conference, he acknowledged the importance of reaching the final, as reported by Football Italia:
“Leicester dropped down into this tournament from the Europa League, whereas this is our 13th Conference League game. We paid for it in Serie A by dropping points, having played on Thursday and then Sunday. Teams with 30 players all of the same level can rotate and not pay with points, but we don’t have that."
Mourinho added:
“The advantage Leicester have is they don’t need to worry about their Premier League position, whereas we do if we want to qualify for the Europa League, as we can still finish anywhere from fifth to eighth place in Serie A."
“It’s a tough moment, but also one with a lot of motivation. I have reached many European semi-finals and I say that no matter the names and the potential, it is always 50-50.”
Roma may yet miss out on Champions League qualification, but winning the Europa Conference League will be a big deal for the club and Mourinho after a difficult last few years for both.
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