An extraordinary gesture from Roma coach Jose Mourinho will go down in the annals of European and even world football. He is the author during the preparatory match that took place on Saturday, August 12, against the Albanian club Partizani Tirana, knowing that this match is the fifth and last that was played during the Italian club’s off-season training camp, and it recorded 3 wins, a draw and a defeat.
Indeed, the Portuguese coach in Rome did not hesitate to do so Taking out the Algerian attacking midfielder, Houssem El Aouar, without replacing him. It’s a very strange gesture made in the 79th minute of play, but it won’t have an explanation until much later. According to a video of the scene circulated on social media, even the Algerian international did not understand the ride before giving him explanations on the bench.
The Italian media and even other Europeans commented on this decision by “Special One” who preferred to let his team finish ten against eleven, with eleven minutes remaining in regulation time. Italian sports newspaper Corriere dello Sport Finally he gave explanations for this strange gesture from Jose Mourinho.
Jose Mourinho wanted to protect Houssem El Aour
According to the media, the Portuguese coach, Roma, took out Hossam Al-Awar to protect him from the somewhat violent match of today’s opponents. Even worse, the Algerian was particularly targeted by the Partizani Tirana players. This prompted Jose Mourinho to remove the Algerian international player, and also allowed the Albanians to reduce the score from a penalty kick to end the match with two goals to one in favor of Hossam Al-Awar and his companions.
Having already made all the substitutions, Jose Mourinho preferred to leave Houssem Aouar and finish at the age of ten due to the mistakes he had made.
A nice sign of confidence from Special One towards his former Lyon pic.twitter.com/U9vCCRyHBW
– JDZ Football (JDZ Football) August 12, 2023
As a reminder, Hossam Awar joined Roma this summer after his contract with Olympique Lyonnais, where he studied, expired. Mourinho’s five pre-season matches showed that the Algerian can be relied upon Serie A whose first matches are scheduled for next week, but also for European League For which the Romanian club qualified after the penalty (points deduction) that affected Juventus.
