Roma will face AC Milan at the San Siro on Sunday without Jose Mourinho in his technical area — he serves a suspension after picking up his fourth red card of the season last week against Atalanta.
It’s hard to say just how well the ‘Bad Boy’ shtick and the ‘world is against us’ narrative are holding out for him in Italy.
All indications are that it no longer washes with the American owners, the Friedkin Group, who have yet to offer Mourinho a contract extension beyond the end of this season.
The Ultras have until now stayed loyal. There was a ‘With Mourinho all the way to hell,’ banner displayed at the training ground a few weeks back.
But even they are beginning to wonder if the Emperor may actually not have any clothes on — it stings that they have lost four of their last six games against neighbours Lazio, failing to score in the last four.
Patience seems to be running out with Jose Mourinho when it comes to the owners of Roma
The coach will be suspended this weekend after picking up his fourth red card this season
The Roma ownership group, chaired by Dan Friedkin, are yet to offer Mourinho a new contract
The latest defeat came in midweek when they were beaten in their Italian Cup quarter-final by Maurizio Sarri’s team.
It was the worst Rome derby since the previous one, with Mourinho’s team not managing a shot on target until eight minutes from time.
He was right when he said his team lost to a ‘modern penalty’ after the VAR-awarded spot-kick led to the winner. But with no domestic cup consolation, Feyenoord waiting in the Europa League, and the possibility of defeat on Sunday moving them 13 points behind third-placed Milan, the horizon looks bleak.
Of his red card last weekend Atalanta coach Gian Piero Gasperini said: ‘He gets sent off every third week. It’s impossible to referee this type of game because of the conditions that are created.’
Mourinho and his coaching staff have been sent off a total of 28 times since he took over and the constant encroachment, complaining and goading creates an intimidating atmosphere that has inspired admiration from the Olympic Stadium faithful — and distracted from the football, or the lack of it.
Mourinho and his coaching staff have been sent off 28 times since he took over the club
Gasperini is not the only one who has spoken out. Last season, Salernitana’s sporting director Walter Sabatini complained: ‘After every decision from the referee the whole (Roma) bench is on the pitch. It’s unbearable.’
A former player and director of football at Roma, Sabatini has also called Mourinho an ‘opium of the people’. It’s populism, and it only gets you so far — he invented bogeymen and created a phoney-war with officialdom at Real Madrid and for a while their fans fell for it.
In part it fuelled their title win over the best Barcelona team in history in 2012, but it has a short shelf-life once results drop off.
Napoli’s disastrous defence of their title partly distracts from Roma’s failings. Walter Mazzarri’s team have not scored in their last four games. But while chaos reigns at Napoli, who are on their third coach inside eight months, at Roma something should have grown out of a period of managerial stability.
If Mourinho fails to get his team back into the Champions League for the third season running, it may be that the owners decide to make a change — regardless of what the Ultras who are loyal to Mourinho want.
Sporting director Tiago Pinto has already agreed to step down at the end of this month. The departure of the man who hired Mourinho feels like a precursor to a change of coach.
The question is where will he go next? Every career move now seems one step closer to Saudi Arabia. And every shot- shy display, with the backdrop of choreographed touchline animosity, feels like another step away from his glory days at Porto, Chelsea and Inter, and from another crack at big club where he could win a major trophy.
If Mourinho fails to take Roma back to the Champions League for the third season running, the owners may make a change
The football has been poor from Roma too – they didn’t have their first shot on target against Lazio until eight minutes from time
It’s not all rosy for Sancho on his Dortmund return
Manchester United desperately trying to claw back value on lost-cause wingers by sending them out on loan to Europe has had mixed results.
It’s working so far with Mason Greenwood at Getafe. It failed miserably when Anthony Martial was sent to Sevilla. Now it’s Borussia Dortmund’s turn with Jadon Sancho.
He’s unlikely to start away on Saturday at Damstadt but Sancho has been given the No 10 shirt and the expectation is that he will be incrementally involved.
Dortmund fans are, in the main, positive about his return. He arrived from Manchester City aged 17 in 2018 and scored 50 goals in 137 games before he left for United in 2021.
Jadon Sancho faces pressure to succeed this season following his return to former side Borussia Dortmund
Some look back so favourably on his time that they recall him as fondly as Jude Bellingham and Erling Haaland. But there are others who also recall the occasional breaches of discipline, the fines for turning up late to training or arriving late from international duty.
He was cut some slack then as a young player, now he joins with the greater responsibility of saving Dortmund’s season.
Six games without a win at the end of last year, two lacklustre draws in January friendlies, and the arrival of former players Nuri Sahin and Sven Bender to assist coach Edin Terzic speak of a club desperately in need of a lift.
That makes for plenty of initial goodwill towards Sancho.
And having originally joined for £8m, left for £73m, and now rejoined on loan for £3m, he’s certainly good for finances. It will be good for United’s too, if he rediscovers his form.
He was cut some slack as a young player for breaches of discipline before – this time he joins with greater responsibility
The Spanish Super Cup, meanwhile, is rigged to suit certain sides – the likes of Real Madrid have been paid more just for turning up
Super Cup to suit the established – just like the Super League
As the Super League talk drones on, it’s worth bearing in mind how the finances are stacked up in the Spanish Super Cup that has its clasico final on Sunday in Riyadh.
Barcelona and Real Madrid were guaranteed around £5million just for showing up. On top of that they earned an extra £645,000 for playing the semi-final and £1.3m for winning the final, or £860,000 for losing it.
Osasuna, meanwhile, only get £1.68m for participating and would only have earned a further £430,000 had they won it. It’s rigged to suit the established clubs — pretty much the unspoken mission statement of the planned Super League.