Jose Mourinho gets Roma reign off to perfect start as Serie A side put ten past Montecatini in pre-season friendly
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Updated 16/07/2021 at 15:12 GMT
The Portuguese manager was unveiled at Roma last week having agreed to join the club after leaving Tottenham in May. A hat-trick for Real Madrid loanee Borja Mayoral helped the Serie A side to a thumping victory over their fourth-tier opponents, with Chris Smalling also involved for Mourinho's new club. Roma next face Serie B side Ternana on Sunday.
'A disaster for me is something most coaches won't acheive in a lifetime' Mourinho at Roma
Jose Mourinho got his Roma reign off to a perfect start as his new club put ten goals past Serie D side Montecatini.
A hat-trick from Real Madrid loanee Borja Mayoral helped Roma to a comfortable victory, with Chris Smalling, reunited with his former Manchester United boss Mourinho, also involved in the pre-season friendly.
Mourinho was unveiled at the Serie A club last week having agreed to join Roma after leaving Tottenham in May.
The Portuguese coach was forced to defend his recent managerial record in his opening press conference in the Italian capital.
While still highly regarded, Mourinho left the Tottenham job in the week before the League Cup final having failed to secure a trophy at the club, who would also eventually fail to qualify for the Champions League.
"At my last three clubs I won the Premier League with Chelsea, I won three cups with Manchester United, I made it into the League Cup final with Tottenham," said Mourinho.
"We finished 12th the year before and then we came sixth and qualified for the Europa League.
What is considered a disaster for me is something that other coaches have never achieved in their lifetimes."
Along with Mayoral, Carles Perez, Gianluca Mancini, Riccardo Calafiori, Nicolo Zaniolo, Nicola Zalewski and Amadou Diawara were on the scoresheet for Roma.
An own goal from Montecatini just before half-time had put Roma in to a 5-0 half-time lead, a margin they would double in the second half.
The club, nestled in Tuscan countryside between Lucca and Pistoia, were grateful for the opportunity to meet Mourinho’s side, despite the nature of their defeat.
"We leave Rome and Trigoria at the end of a wonderful and unforgettable day for which we thank the AS Roma for the hospitality and hospitality," Montecatini said on Facebook.
Roma will begin their Serie A season on August 22 against Fiorentina.
The club hailed Mourinho as “one of the greatest managers of all-time” when announcing his hire in May, and handed him a three-year contract.
Under the guidance of Mourinho’s predecessor and compatriot Paulo Fonseca, Roma finished seventh in Serie A last season, and will play in the play-off round of the newly conceived Europa Conference League - a competition in which Tottenham will also compete.
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The pair are two of the seeded clubs for that final qualifying stage of the new competition by dint of their strong UEFA coefficients.
Mourinho returns to Italy more than a decade after leading Inter Milan to a famous treble.
The Portuguese led the club to back-to-back Serie A titles before departing for Real Madrid.
The opportunity to return to Italy was an exciting one, explained Mourinho in his opening press conference at the club.
“There is a fantastic bond between Roma and the city and that brings a lot of responsibility with it and I feel that, but we are not here on holiday, we are here to work.
The next challenge is always the most important, this is the next challenge so it is the most important.
"We are not going to change things when we are not yet aware of everything we have within the group. It is very important to get to know them."
Along with Smalling, Mourinho is reunited with former Manchester United winger Henrikh Mkhitaryan in Rome.
The manager playfully posted an image of him drilling the pair at training on Instagram this week, captioning the photo: “Football is a small world.”
Mkhitaryan has previously described the pair’s relationship as “complicated”, and referred to “differences and conflicts” during their time at Manchester United.
Roma remain without members of their squad involved in Euro 2020, including Allesandro Florenzi, part of the victorious Italian squad, who is set to return to the club at the conclusion of his loan at Paris Saint-Germain.
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