Jose Mourinho’s Roma held Bayer Leverkusen to a 0-0 draw at the BayArena and proved to be enough for Roma, as Jose Mourinho’s side advanced to the Europa League final after a 1-0 aggregate victory over Bayer Leverkusen.
It is the second consecutive European final that Roma have reached, and the sixth in Jose Mourinho’s coaching career.
Coming into the second leg with a narrow 1-0 lead, the Giallorossi did what was expected of them, and sat back in a compact shape off the ball for the majority of the match, with the prime intention to frustrate their opponents and keep a clean sheet.
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Despite being by far the better side and having a total of 12 attempts in the first half alone, Leverkusen were not able to level the tie and break the deadlock on the night. Moussa Diaby came the closest for Die Werkself in the 11th minute, as his long-range strike rattled the crossbar.
Leverkusen tried all they could to force the tie into extra-time, but it came to no avail. Xabi Alonso was left kicking his heels on the sidelines as Roma took every opportunity to waste time and slow the game down in the dying seconds.
When the final whistle blew after eight minutes of stoppage time, the Roma bench breathed a sigh of relief.
The Giallorossi will now take on Sevilla at the Puskas Arena in Budapest on Wednesday 31 May in the final.
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Jose Mourinho’s tactics works
It was clear from the outset that the Roma head coach, Jose Mourinho wanted to revert back to type to ensure his side got the job done tonight, and 58-year-old’s tactical plan worked just how he’d hoped.
The Giallorossi kept compact, and made few attempts to try and fashion out opportunities for themselves. Their only one of note came with not even a minute on the clock, as Lorenzo Pellegrini put his shot wide of the left-hand post. From there on in, the gamesmanship and defensive structure became crucial.
It is certainly not the first time that the Portuguese manager has delivered these instructions to his players in a big away match, and it won’t be the last.
With Roma sitting in sixth place in Serie A with just three league games remaining, winning the Europa League represents the club’s only real chance to qualify for next season’s Champions League.
