Three days before the Champions League final, UEFA handed out another European title tonight (Wednesday), this time in its new factory. Rome became the first winner in the history of the Conference League, when they defeated Feyenoord 0-1 in the final in Tirana, Albania. Niccolo Zaniolu won in the 32nd minute. And delighted the crowd that came from Italy and another 50,000 who watched the game on a giant screen at the Olimpico.
The celebrations at the Olimpico
Goia irrepressible at#Olympic
????❤️ pic.twitter.com/CSkx7ennO0
— laroma24.it (LAROMA24) May 25, 2022
The numbers
* Rome won its first European title, in the third attempt. In 1984 she lost on penalties to Liverpool in the Champions Cup final and in 1991 she lost to Inter by a total of two games in the UEFA Cup final.
The Gallurosi have also put an end to 14 years without any title, since their last Italian Cup in 2008.
* Roma of course became the first team to win a European title despite being defeated by five goals on the way (lost 6: 1 to Norwegian Bodo Glimt in the home leg).
Jose Mourinho celebrated his fifth European title as a coach and became the first in history to win the Champions League (twice), the European League (also won the UEFA Cup) and the Conference League. He also maintained 100 percent success in the finals. The only coach to win five titles so far Continental: Giovanni Traptoni.
* In total, Mourinho has 11 titles in the first decade of the millennium, nine goals from 2010 and this is his first since 2020.
* By the way, the previous European title of an Italian team was also with Mourinho on the lines: Inter in the Champions League in 2010.
* Niccolò Zaniolu (22 and 327 days old) is the youngest Italian to score in a European final in the last 25 years, since Alessandro Del Piero scored in the 1997 Champions League final for Dortmund when he was 22 and 200 days old.
The reactions
Rome coach Jose Mourinho He cried with excitement during the interview and said: “So many things are going through my mind right now. I’m in Rome for 11 months and I realized as soon as I arrived what it means to be an artist here and what to expect from us. “We did a great job all season. Tonight it was not a job, it was history. We had to write history and we did it.”
The Portuguese added: “We felt from the start that we could win the Conference League, but the competition improved when the teams from the Europa League joined, Leicester, Marseille and Feyenoord (not true, it started the season in the Conference League). But we have invested a lot in this factory.I stay and there are no doubts.Even if there are rumors, I want to stay in Rome.We must understand what our owners want to do next season, we can build a strong project.
“The great thing about my career, apart from winning the Europa League with Manchester United, doing it with Porto, Inter and Roma is very very special. It’s one thing to win when everyone expects you to win when you invest a lot to win. I think for myself, but above It’s all about Rome fans celebrating tonight and remembering this night forever. Obviously I feel like a real Roman, but maybe that’s the way I work. I’m a Porto, Inter, Chelsea fan, I’m crazy about Real Madrid and now I’m a Rome fan too. I belong to all These clubs because we experienced great moments together. ”
The captain Lorenzo Pellegrini Excited: “It’s not normal, I could not imagine that at 25 I would do such a thing with the shirt of Rome. Today we showed who we really are. Now we can celebrate a lot and then start again, because it is the hardest thing after such victories. A good team knows how to win and celebrate. Thank you Huge for the fans, we gave them what we have not been able to give in recent years. ”
Rome brake Chris Smalling He said: “We knew how significant it would be for everyone in Rome. Everyone fought to the end. We went down a bit, more than we wanted, and everyone fought. It has been a long time since Rome won the title and we knew how significant a title would be for everyone at the club.”
Tammy Abraham He added: “One thing I said when I came here was that I would help my team reach the final and win the title in my first season here. It came to us because we worked hard all year. I love the Roma fans. From the beginning it was great here. We won the title and I am happy to be part of this team “Now is the time for a party and a celebration.”