20 April 2023 , 23:46
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Paulo Dybala has revealed that Jose Mourinho correctly predicted Roma's Europa League quarter-final with Feyenoord would go to extra-time.
Roma were trailing 1-0 after the first leg, but pulled off a stunning comeback in the second-half of Thursday's return fixture. Leonardo Spinazzola pulled them level on aggregate with a goal on the hour mark, but Igor Paixao scored with 10 minutes to go to put the Dutch side back in front.
It appeared that Paixao's strike would be enough to send Feyenoord into the final four, but Dybala popped up in the last minute to finish off a brilliant team move and send the game to extra-time.
Stephan El Shaarawy and Lorenzo Pellegrini then completed Roma's comeback to send them through to the semi-finals, where they will face Bayer Leverkusen. And Dybala has revealed that Mourinho had already predicted his side would need extra-time to win.
“I think everyone knows Mourinho, his history, what he’s done in Europe and at every club he worked at I think he won something. His mentality fuels you. He knew the game could end up like this and pushed us to give something more," he told Sky Sport Italia.
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"He changed the tactical system, we started playing better and dominated extra time for a deserved victory. I think we all want to win, which is the most important thing. We have a coach with an incredible mentality.
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Paulo Dybala helped Roma to complete a stunning comeback win over Feyenoord"He told us the game would be like that and he was absolutely right. This squad won the Conference League last season, so they know what it takes to win. Now we hope to go all the way in the Europa League too.
“The stadium packed with 65,000 people is a huge help, they are like an extra man for us on the field. They kept pushing and so did we. I was a little scared when they equalised, but we kept going and made the game ours in extra time.”
Mourinho hailed his side for the character they showed to come back from going 2-1 down on aggregate to claim a stunning win. The legendary manager also revealed the content of team talk he delivered to his players which led to them going through.
"This team has values, maybe someone has a different opinion. The team played very well, a game that was difficult to play and manage, but the guys with intelligence and desire made a great match against a very good team, but we were superior," he said.
"With games like this you understand why I have so many white games: I think 150 games of European competitions, I've seen everything. Yesterday I told the players that it would be different, the important thing was to stay calm down.
"I'm in a phase of my career where the players are more important, I'm the bottom. What I want is to make the fans happy, to put the boys in a position to improve. I'm proud of this. What we've done I'm sure the fans are happy with who we are, fighting until the last minute."