Roma boss Mourinho laments ‘terrible loss’ of Spinazzola

New Roma coach Jose Mourinho on Sunday lamented the “terrible loss” of Italy left-back Leonardo Spinazzola with a ruptured left Achilles tendon.

The 28-year-old picked up the injury during Friday’s 2-1 Euro 2020 quarter-final win over Belgium in Munich, the day Mourinho arrived in Rome.

“It’s a terrible loss for Italy, but imagine how terrible it is for me who won’t have him for about six months,” Mourinho told TalkSport.

“(Chelsea’s) Emerson Palmieri is a good player, with experience. But Spinazzola was playing in an incredible way.”

Former Tottenham boss Mourinho returns to Italy 11 years after leading Inter Milan ot the treble -- Champions League, Serie A and Coppa Italia.

On Sunday, the 58-year-old Portuguese posted a video on Instagram at the team’s Trigoria training centre, where he remains in quarantine.

“Two more days to stay away from the players,” said the former Real Madrid, Manchester United and Porto coach.

“But it’s OK. The weather is amazing, I can be out, I can see the training sessions, I can organise and speak with the assistants that are taking care of them.

“So all good. We all feel sorry about the loss of our Spinazzola for a few months, but that’s football and we have to be ready to start next week.”

Meanwhile, at Jose Mourinho’s new home, the Stadio Olimpico, Luke Shaw chose the perfect setting for his latest riposte to his former boss with two assists in England’s 4-0 thrashing of Ukraine to reach the Euro 2020 semi-finals.

Shaw suffered at the hands of Mourinho for three seasons at Manchester United, a string of public criticism not a patch on what was said behind closed doors, the 25-year-old admitted this week.

Mourinho’s arrival at Old Trafford came hot on the heels of a horrible double leg fracture Shaw suffered in September 2015.

The former Southampton defender revealed in 2018 there had even been fears his right leg would have to be amputated because of blood clots that required emergency surgery.

His career never got back on track during Mourinho’s tempestuous time at United, where he was far from the only player the Portuguese did not take kindly to.

At one point Mourinho even remarked he was the “brain” controlling Shaw’s body by having to coach him through games.

“I don’t think any of you realise the two or three years I had with him and how bad it was then, what it was like then,” Shaw told reporters this week.

“What he says now is nothing compared to how it used to be. I am being totally honest. I am so past it now. I have grown up a lot.”

Newly installed as Roma boss, but working as a pundit at the Euro, Mourinho’s latest barb was to criticise Shaw’s set-piece delivery after England’s 0-0 draw with Scotland.

Agencies