Jose Mourinho and Xavi copy each other's excuses as they point finger of blame

It was a busy night of European football on Thursday with all eight quarter final first legs taking place of the Europa League and Europa Conference League.

There was no shortage of talking points across the action with plenty of goals and red cards but it was not a glorious night for either Barcelona or Roma. Indeed, the respective coaches of each side opted to use a similar excuse after their side’s fell to below-par results.

Both Xavi Hernandez and Jose Mourinho blamed the state of the pitch for their outcomes against Eintracht Frankfurt – were Barca were held to a 1-1 draw against ten men but were largely second best - and Bodo/Glimt – were Roma fell to a 2-1 loss - respectively. Indeed, the Norwegian champions had already humiliated Roma earlier in the campaign – beating them 6-1 in the group stage, in what was the worst result of Mourinho’s managerial career.

Bodo/Glimt are the story of this season’s Conference League and are unbeaten in any competition since August, with three stunning results against Roma – their two home victories complemented by a 2-2 draw in the Italian capital in the group stage. If they replicate that result in the second leg next week, they will qualify for the semi-finals and eliminate the competition favourites.

Mourinho told Sky Sport Italia after the game, as per Football Italia : “The two goals were from a set play and a deflection. We score a lot of goals from set play too, but it’s a good one to score, a bad one to concede. The first goal was ridiculous. To be honest, the thing that worries me the most is the injury for Mancini. It’s a concern, it’s something caused by playing on a plastic turf.”

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