18 December 2023 , 07:21
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Roma boss Jose Mourinho opted to withdraw Renato Sanches just 18 minutes after bringing him on during the 2-0 defeat away at Bologna.
With the Italian giants already trailing 1-0 at the half-time stage, Mourinho opted to throw Paris Saint-Germain loanee Sanches into the mix in the hopes he'd swing the tie in Roma's favour. However, when Mourinho's men then went 2-0 down four minutes into the second half, the self-proclaimed 'Special One' knew another change was needed.
Just after the hour mark, Sanches saw his number being held up and his night's work was already over. He was replaced by Edoardo Bove and looked completely stunned in his response, barely believing that he was being hooked after 18 minutes of action.
Mourinho did apologise come full-time, claiming: "I’m sorry… The last time I did this to a player before Renato was [Nemanja] Matic, and I’m terribly sorry about this. But today I couldn’t leave the team with a player who had become frustrated. I had to make this decision.
"With Renato we live in a situation of hope, we always think that space, certain responsibilities, adrenaline are the ideal way to help him make the leap," Mourinho continued. "He has emotional scars, he has many fears due to past injuries.
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"He works at low intensity, on everything we do. He improves in volume and in workload but never in intensity. In the last match against Sheriff he had given us 60 minutes of hope, and today I thought about inserting him because the team could have benefited from his quality."
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To add further weight to the claims that there is an issue between the pair, Mourinho did not even look at Sanches as he made his way off the pitch. There has been lingering rumours of an issue between the duo ever since the Roma boss publicly questioned the midfielder's fitness record back in September.
Following a 2-1 win against Sheriff Tiraspol in the Europa League, Mourinho issued comments on Sanches that left plenty of eyebrows raised. He claimed: "They [Renato Sanches and Houssem Aouar] have to play, they need rhythm and intensity.
"That's what Renato is, he's always at risk, it's difficult to understand: Bayern didn't understand him, PSG didn't understand him and we have difficulties."