He had already won the Champions League twice and the Europa League and its predecessors the UEFA Cup once each. And when the game schedule for this football season was supplemented with another European club team tournament – yes, then José Mourinho also won it.
The Europa Conference League includes the best clubs closest to the Champions League and Europa League levels. On Wednesday, the first winner was crowned, when Roma took home the trophy after the 1-0 victory in the final against Patrik Wålemark’s Feyenoord.
The crucial goal came in the 32nd minute, and came after a period of Roma dominance. Gianluca Mancini, one of the players in Roma’s back line, sent a long, high ball over Feyenoord’s back line and into the opponents’ penalty area. It landed perfectly at Nicolò Zaniolo, who took the ball with his chest and then neatly poked it over goalkeeper Justin Bijlow and into goal.
Feyenoord pressed during large parts of the second half, but without finding the final gap in the Roma defense.
Instead, it was the Rome team that got to write history at the Air Albania Stadium in Albania’s capital Tirana.
And for coach José Mourinho it was another trophy to add to the collection. The 59-year-old Portuguese, who took over Roma last year, has since the beginning of the 2000s won most of what goes as a European club team coach. In addition to the heavy European titles, he has won the Premier League in England, Serie A in Italy, La Liga in Spain and the Portuguese league, in addition to several domestic cup titles.