Rome, Mourinho: “Now Zaniolo is more important to us. I hope he stays”

Andrea Belotti, Nicolò Zaniolo, Lorenzo Pellegrini: these are the three protagonists of Josè Mourinho’s conference in Trigoria on the eve of tomorrow’s match against Cremonese. Starting with Zaniolo, Mourinho admits: “In the puzzle we have built, as the characteristics of the players, it is much more important for us than before. Physically he is agile and fresh, thanks to him and then ours, as staff, but if you ask me if he stays I say it is a question for him and for the director. I would like it very much if you stayed here ”.

BELOTTI AND PILGRIMS

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Conditional aside, Mou wants to keep Nicolò and he also wants another striker, specifically Andrea Belotti: “In Salerno, when I put Matic and Wijnaldum, I didn’t want to make Pinto or the club understand that I would like another striker, me I wanted to win the game and obviously I didn’t have another striker at the level of Dybala, Abraham or Zaniolo. Shomu and Felix are now not at that level, at that moment I had the strength and savoir faire of Matic and Wijnaldum and I used them. What if I would like to have another striker? I do not answer, but the director Tiago knows a lot. I have to wait with hope for it to arrive and if it cannot be done we will go on with what we have. Belotti? He is free, so I can say that if it’s true (he reiterates it, ed) that he wants to come to Rome with this strength, I really like this feeling. Let’s wait and see ”. Among the players who called Belotti to convince him there is Lorenzo Pellegrini, Mou’s point of reference in all respects: “I said I would have liked to have three Lorenzo at a time when he was growing up, a year ago. He can still grow, but today he is a really great player. So great that he can play not only in three positions, but even more. He has an incredible footballing maturity, he can play in the positions of Dybala or Zaniolo, in midfield. For us it is worth a lot, if you see the alternatives to Paulo or Nicolò we have El Shaarawy and Pellegrini, only them. Lorenzo will play a lot and everywhere, he can do it ”.

ENTHUSIASM AND VICTORIES

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Tomorrow, against Cremonese, there will be a sold out Olympic for the ninth time in a row: Mou knows it, he is happy about it, but he does not want to underestimate his opponents: “It’s incredible. The basis of everything is the passion of the fans, but we feel the pride of having a responsibility in having to develop this empathy. This thing is beautiful for us, but also for Italian football, abroad they watch Roma and our games at the Olimpico, I have contacts everywhere, everyone has a fantastic impression. Cremonese has a very well-defined organization, congratulations to her coach, she knows how he wants to play, she knows how to influence the opponent’s game, they have made important investments. We can read, but we don’t want to hear it, that it will be a three-point game in the pocket, but I reject this thing: it will be difficult. We lost too many points at home last year, made too many draws in games to win, that’s true, but I repeat it won’t be easy ”. In midfield, with Pellegrini, one between Matic, Wijnaldum and Cristante will play, but Mourinho is not unbalanced: “Nemanja is very well, Gini is well, we had two whole weeks to work and it was very important for those who arrived like the Dutchman after. Now we will play every 3-4 days, we also have this nice gift of playing with Monza only two days after Juventus (text, ed), but luckily we have everyone available, including Zalewski and El Shaaeawy. Cristante? It is important, at all levels, as a player and as a person, it is undeniable ”.

TARGETS

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In summary, Mourinho will need everyone to win. But what is the team aiming for next year? “We won a competition not very different from the one we will play this year. Different in the groups, they will be more balanced, but in the knockout phase we will find the teams of the Champions and super powers like Manchester and Arsenal. We will have to put everything in and see where we get. In Italy it will be very difficult, today we have more potential than last year, but the others have not worsened either. For the sake of Italian football all have improved. We want to finish fifth or fourth, we want to improve our position, but the others have made investments. It is difficult to say that we can win, but let’s see what happens ”.