Jose Mourinho bizarrely knocks out Roma star Houssem Aouar to end match with 10 men after failing to sign a replacement in pre-season against Albanian opposition
Jose Mourinho has once again shown his tactical savvy after deciding to make a bizarre substitution in Roma’s last friendly game and deliberately ending the game with 10 men.
Never far from controversy, the Portuguese caused confusion under his bench in Saturday’s friendly against Albania’s Partizani.
With Roma leading 2-0 with 11 minutes remaining at the Air Albania Stadium, Mourinho decided to bring on recently signed midfielder Houssem Aouar.
However, they had already used up their eight allowed substitutions during the game and that meant that Aouar left the game with no one to replace him.
The Algerian international – previously a target of Arsenal and Tottenham Hotspur – joined France from Lyon to Roma at the start of the summer transfer window.
Roma manager Jose Mourinho decided to make a bizarre substitution in a friendly match on Saturday
Mourinho (left) decided to remove midfielder Houssem Aouar (right) without replacing him
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Aouar started the match in midfield against Partizani and would sit out the rest of the game as Roma were unable to make any more substitutions.
The 25-year-old appeared confused when he was called out by Mourinho as play continued and had a brief chat with the manager before realizing he was being sent off.
The fourth official tried to intervene briefly before Mourinho and Aouar walked back to the bench as Roma continued to play with 10 men.
The midfielder then stood in front of the packed bench as he walked past the line of players and staff, giving each member a high-five.
Aouar seemed to accept the reasons why he was replaced by an Italian news channel Corriere dello Sport revealing that it was a planned move by Mourinho to protect his star and also make the match fairer.
Partizani was already one man down after manager Zoran Zekic made a mistake during a substitution attempting to replace one of his star players with a player who had already been taken off.
Aouar looked surprised as he walked to the sideline as play continued behind him
Mourinho (centre) then tells the midfielder (right) that he will leave without replacement
Mourinho wanted to give his opponent the chance to play out the rest of the match on an equal footing and so removed Aouar to balance the teams.
There was also concern for Aouar after he suffered several gritty tackles and Mourinho wanted to protect the midfielder from injury.
AS Roma kicks off their new Serie A campaign against Salernitana on Sunday.