Jose Mourinho sent a message to Real Madrid manager Carlo Ancelotti after Roma progressed to the final of the Europa Conference League, wishing his counterpart good luck against Jurgen Klopp’s Liverpool.
The Portuguese coach watched his team overcome Leicester City in the second leg of Thursday’s semi-final game, with an early goal from Tammy Abraham setting up a 2-1 aggregate win after drawing the first leg away at King Power Stadium.
Roma will now play Feyenoord – who saw off Marseille 3-2 on aggregate – in the final in Tirana, Albania on May 25, the club’s first major European final since 1991.
Three days after Mourinho tries to secure his first trophy with Roma, Ancelotti – who played 171 games for the Giallorossi – will take on the Reds in the final of the Champions League after a superb comeback against Man City on Wednesday.
During his post-match interview with Sky Sport Italia, Mourinho was willing to pay tribute to the veteran Italian coach and is hoping they both emerge victorious.
Speaking after Roma’s win over Leicester, Mourinho said: ‘If you allow me a message for a coach who is my friend, the great Carletto, let’s both go and win the finals!’
On his own team’s performance in the semi-final, the Portuguese added: ‘I am so tired, I want to go home!
‘It’s a victory of the family. Not just the one that was on the pitch and on the bench, but in the stadium. That is our greatest achievement, this empathy and sense of family we have created with the fans.
‘I think our performance was extraordinary, others might see it differently, but when your goalkeeper makes two saves over 120 minutes against a Premier League side with so much attacking quality, it means we’ve done something good.
‘The lads deserve this, we have three Serie A games left to end as well as possible. We’ve had a fantastic trajectory to reach the final, we dropped points in Serie A to achieve that, but now we are in the final and we want to win.’
In beating Leicester, Mourinho has become the first manager to reach the final of the Champions League, Europa League and Europa Conference League – while he can also become the first manager to win all three competitions too.
