Mourinho: ‘Here in Helsinki to win. We don’t want to go down to the Conference to defend it ‘

From our correspondent Massimo Cecchini

October 26
– HELSINKI (FIN)

He has the contorted face of someone who, citing the “Blues Brothers” seems to be on a mission on behalf of God. This is why José Mourinho immediately enters the subject. “We absolutely have to win – says the Roma coach, who will play in Helsinki tomorrow to continue the march in the Europa League -. We need this result in order not to depend on others, even if we know it will not be easy. In the first leg, if the Hjk had remained in eleven, it would have been more difficult for us. I’ve seen their other matches, it won’t be a walk in the park, but it’s a crucial match for us. We don’t want to go down to the Conference “. On the other hand, football at all latitudes offers problems. “After the first leg, congratulations to the opponents for the organization – adds the Special One -. The Nordic countries are in great football evolution. Ten or twenty years ago you could have found good players, but now there are all teams very well organized and with trained coaches. Helsinki knows what they want to do on the pitch, they have an identity. We have to play at a high level to win. Even if Helsinki is 212th in the ranking I don’t care, the definition criteria then make me doubtful. I have not seen this difference. Ranking is a bit like statistics. A team that creates opportunities also does not shoot, it seems that it has not attacked ”. And to those who ask him if he hopes for a resurrection of the attack he replies: “When it comes to positive things, I am happy to exalt individuality. When things are negative I don’t like it. Sometimes a few words escape me, but in general I don’t like them. We need to score more, but I don’t want to talk about individual situations. If we have maneuvering problems, we will not create opportunities. Instead we created a dozen against Napoli and about fifteen against Atalanta. Of course, we have had many injuries from his outsiders. So far we have certainly scored little for how we play ”.

Synthetic

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Synthetic soil is unwelcome and in fact is keen to emphasize. “I don’t want to cry, we doubt playing and staying focused. But playing on artificial ground is another sport, the technical gesture changes and those who are used to it have an advantage. They have a nice rig nearby and you can’t use it. For sponsorship reasons? It’s a good excuse, but it depends on UEFA. Last year on the synthetic we played two games: both defeats, one of which is historic (6-1, ed). Then in the race of truth, we killed Bodo. It can’t happen with them, if we lose we’re out. There is no need to cry: we have to play and win ”. It’s hard to be clearer than that.