ALVISE CAGNAZZO: Jose Mourinho triumphed over his friend Xabi Alonso with a very Italian gameplan

Finally the old fox devoured the little chick. Jose Mourinho won a game playing with Italian spirit, defending to the bitter end and building a formidable wall that Bayer Leverkusen could not break down.

Xabi Alonso has built a very ‘Spanish’ team at the German club, able to play with intensity and statistically dominate Roma. 23 shots on target for Leverkusen against just one shot from the yellow and red teams, 72 per cent possession for the Germans against 28 per cent for Roma: a technical and tactical feat that, however, failed to see the former Liverpool playmaker reach the Europa League final .

Instead, they were defeated by a team that has accepted its limits and now fights with care and attention to every defensive detail.

Leverkusen managed to win the match but failed to score, while Roma won in ‘catenaccio’ style, taking advantage of their defenders’ aggressiveness – a style twinned with 1980s Italian football that has never really left the game. fashion has hit.

Alonso probably deserved to continue, but in the end the yellow-red team was more pragmatic and poisoned the German game. Mourinho parked a bus in front of Rui Patricio’s goal, closing off every space for Bayer Leverkusen’s forwards and midfielders, who suffered further from the physical strength of Mourinho’s rock-hard defence.

Jose Mourinho (left) and his strong Roma defense denied Bayer Leverkusen and Xabi Alonso (right) a spot in the Europa League final

Mourinho has described his former Real Madrid player as a ‘friend’ several times

Alonso played for Mourinho during his spell in the Spanish capital between 2010 and 2013

Before Mourinho, Roma had only reached two European finals, in 1927 and 2021, but since the arrival of the Special One, the Giallorossi will now see two consecutive finals.

Mou isn’t the most spectacular manager in the world – and he certainly never claimed to be one – but his extraordinary solidity has allowed his team to claim a very significant performance against a backdrop of trouble.

If a consensual divorce comes at the end of this season, Mourinho will be able to boast that Roma’s European ambitions have been boosted.

At the end of the game against Leverkusen, the Portuguese coach was visibly moved, but did not show his joy in the overcrowded way fans have come to expect in recent years. His elation at the final whistle was muffled, like a man with a cold heart.

Mourinho explained his diminished revelry during his post-match press conference, stressing the importance of his friendship with his dugout counterpart.

“Experience doesn’t matter: pressure and joy feel the same,” said the Portuguese coach. “It’s very hard for me to play against my friends, [even if] during the game you forget.

“I don’t like celebrating in front of someone who has lost when I’m in a relationship with them. Xabi Alonso is one of my friends and I’m having a hard time. I am also thinking of the victims of the floods in Emilia Romagna’.

The Special One is known for its lavish sideline celebrations, but made a muted impression after the final whistle on Thursday out of respect for Alonso.

The prospect of a second European title in a row could bring him immortality in Rome

Giallorossi fans already see Mourinho as the best coach in the club’s modern history, even ahead of Fabio Capello, and recent European results only confirm that view. To keep him, the Friedkin family will have to give him the opportunity to make the team more and more competitive.

There has been a lot of talk in recent days about a possible future at Paris Saint-Germain, particularly in the pages of Corriere dello Sportbut the French club’s interest is only in the early stages.

Lyon’s Houssem Aouar is close to signing a five-year contract with the club, but the deal fails to arouse the manager’s enthusiasm. Mourinho wants top players for the side to compete for the Scudetto next season, and sporting director Tiago Pinto’s usual vague promises simply won’t cut it if the club wants to keep their head coach in the Italian capital.