José Mourinho is not pleased with the timing of Juventus’ points deduction, he says on Monday evening after AS Roma’s duel with Salernitana (2-2). The Portuguese coach indicates that the Romans would have ‘looked at the competition differently’ if the decision had come out earlier. “Then we would have put everything on the Europa League,” said Mourinho.
On Monday evening it was announced that Juventus must hand in ten points for financial malpractice, according to the Italian sports court. The appeals committee demanded an eleven-point reduction against the Italian top club during a new hearing on Monday morning, while a penalty of fifteen points was previously suspended. Ultimately, a deduction of ten points is the final verdict, as a result of which Juventus drops to seventh place in the ranking. In theory it would Juve may also appeal again.
“For me this is one big joke, because this is decided when there are only two games left to play. This concerns us all,” Mourinho refers to the other teams in Serie A. The Roma coach feels “bad” for Juventus. “This points penalty affects the league, to be honest. If they had said this before our game against Monza (on May 3, ed.) or Bologna (on May 14, ed.), we would have looked at the competition differently. Then we would have put everything on the Europa League.” Incidentally, Roma settled with Bayer Leverkusen (1-0) in the semi-final, which meant that it qualified for the final in Budapest on May 31.
Mourinho’s team is sixth in Serie A due to Juventus’ point penalty. The distance to number four AC Milan, which currently virtually holds the last Champions League ticket, is four points. With two games to go, direct qualification for the billion-dollar ball via Serie A therefore seems to be difficult for Roma. I Giallorossi, who still play against Fiorentina (away) and Spezia (home), can also qualify for next season’s Champions League via the Europa League. Then Seville must be won on May 31, which also qualified for the final in Hungary.