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David Parkes·8 March 2023
đŁ Mourinho on Abraham, the packed schedule and facing Real Sociedad

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David Parkes·8 March 2023
JosĂ© Mourinho spoke to the media before Romaâs match against Real Sociedad on Thursday in the Europa League round of 16.
Here is what he had to say.
âReal Sociedad are an excellent team. They have very few weak spots. Their players, like (Mikel) Oyarzabal, are good and extremely technical.
âSociedad have a very good coach and are well organised as a team. Theyâre hard to break down because they can switch formations at anytime. Theyâre really a wonderful team to watch. The fact that theyâre fourth in LaLiga says a lot about them. Iâm sure they have just as much respect for us.
âI can say that we werenât lucky with the draw. The level of this yearâs Europa League is very elevated. Letâs remember, Sociedad beat United at Old Trafford. Thatâs the team weâre facing tomorrow.â
âIâm only interested in one version of Tammy â the one who started on the bench with Juventus and by the end of the match was seen celebrating like heâd scored a goal in front of the Curva. Thatâs the Tammy I want.
âAbraham can score more goals, but what matters to me is the contribution to the team, I liked his 15âČ against Juve, heâs fine. Belotti is also fine. If they didnât play well in Cremona itâs because they played badly as a team.â
âPhysically I think we are in very good hands, the athletic trainer and other collaborators are of very high level, even the work that Salvatore [Foti] and I do always takes into account the physical condition of players.
âObviously, then the playersâ own DNA has an impact on their performance. There are those who can play every three days and those that cannot. Someone like Javier Zanetti could play seven games a week, it was a matter of DNA. There are those canât handle it or struggle more but I think what matters more than anything else is to play every game with the pressure of wanting to win.
âLast year we finished sixth in the standings, seventh before I arrived, and sixth the year before. So it doesnât help, because you get to a point mentally where you donât feel that pressure anymore. The body and mind get used to this feeling.
âI can say that we are evolving, last year we lost twice to Juve, Milan and Inter and this year we won with Juve and Inter and drew with Milan. I think that from the point of view of big matches the team has improved.
âWhen it comes to winning three games in a row in a week we still struggle.â
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