Mourinho slams Roma's 'psychological collapse' after extraordinary Juventus comeback

Jose Mourinho blamed Roma's "psychological complex" for their epic collapse against Juventus on Sunday.

Roma were up 3-1 midway through the second half, only to lose 4-3 as Mourinho's side fell apart in stunning fashion.

And, after another frustrating result, Mourinho said he believes Roma have psychological problems that they will need to work through.

What happened?

Through 70 minutes, Roma were up two goals after Tammy Abraham, Henrikh Mkhitaryan and Lorenzo Pellegrini had all scored.

But, starting with a 70th-minute goal from Manuel Locatelli, Juve stormed back, with Dejan Kulusevski and Mattia De Sciglio helping complete a stunning comeback that saw three goals in seven minutes.

Roma had a chance to equalise after Mathijs de Ligt was called for a handball in the box, but Pellegrini's penalty kick was saved by Wojciech Szczesny to preserve Juve's win.

What did Mourinho say?

“We were in total control for 70 minutes,” Mourinho told DAZN.

“The team played really well and had the mentality of taking control, we came out and started strong. We had this idea of the high press, of controlling the tempo and taking the initiative.

“It was so good for 70 minutes, then there was this psychological collapse. The 3-2 killed us, because Felix [Afena-Gyan] had an extraordinary game, which finished with a sprint against [Juan] Cuadrado. I take him off and his replacement [Eldor Shomurodov] gets it all wrong.

“When we allowed them back in for 3-2, a team with a strong mentality like Juventus, a strong character, the fear set in. A psychological complex. It’s not a problem for me having 3-2, it’s a problem for them. For my team.

“At the end of the day, when you’re in the s**t, you get back on your feet and find your character. But there are people in this locker room who are a bit too nice, a bit too weak.

“I already told the players, if the game had ended at the 70th minute, it would’ve been an extraordinary performance. Unfortunately, it didn’t end then.”

Further reading

• Arsenal's Maitland-Niles completes loan move to Roma
• Did Chelsea make a massive mistake selling Abraham?