Roma 'favourites' for semis despite Bodo/Glimt defeat: Mourinho

AS Roma manager Jose Mourinho said they remain favourites to reach the last four of the Europa Conference League despite losing 2-1 to Bodo/Glimt in the quarter-final first leg in Norway on Thursday.

Roma took the lead in the first half through Lorenzo Pellegrini but the hosts hit back through Ulrik Saltnes and Hugo Vetlesen after the break.

Roma also met Bodo/Glimt in the group stage of Europe's third-tier club competition, losing 6-1 in Norway and drawing 2-2 at home.

"We certainly didn't deserve to lose, but it's not actually a defeat," Mourinho said.

"It's halftime, we are losing 2-1 and we have the second half to play at home in front of a packed stadium with our fans there for the team," he said.

"So I have no issues in saying we're favourites to reach the semi-finals."

Mourinho said he was worried about defender Gianluca Mancini, who went off in the second half with what appeared to be a knee injury.

The Portuguese manager blamed the artificial pitch for the injury.

"It's a pity that we had an important injury, which I call the injuries of the plastic pitches," Mourinho told BT Sport.

"It's out of our control. People decided that European competitions can be played on plastic pitches, so we have to play."

(Reporting by Manasi Pathak in Bengaluru; Editing by Peter Rutherford)