Roma have somewhat emerged a sporting miracle this season thanks to the intuition of Jose Mourinho, who has transformed a mediocre team into a top side on course to qualify for the Champions League.
At the Stadio Olimpico, Mourinho is like a bloodthirsty dictator who takes every opportunity to bind the Giallorossi faithful around his spiritual leadership. A host of controversial spats with referees, as well as the recent shots fired at Antonio Cassano, have stirred a Roma fanbase which now dreams of winning the Europa League one year on from their Conference League triumph last May.
Without the Special One on their bench, Roma would never have tied Chris Smalling down to a new two-year contract and Paulo Dybala would never have accepted such a low financial offer to play for the club. Mourinho has built an aggressive, selfish team that puts opponents to sleep like a snake pouncing on its prey.
If they remain competitive until the end of the season, the credit will lie exclusively with a coach who, after his failure in the Premier League with Tottenham, opted to rebuild his own standing with a team of average financial and footballing strength, where he has become an influential figure both on and off the pitch.
Jose Mourinho has pulled off somewhat of a sporting miracle during his time as Roma boss
The Giallorossi have been transformed from mediocre to one of the top sides in Italian football
In the transfer market, Eldor Shomurodov has been his only mistake to date. Yet Ola Solbakken, the Norwegian star on his way to becoming as strong and consistent as Tottenham's Son Heung-min, seems the perfect player for his football philosophy and still has plenty of room for improvement.
Even Nicola Zalewski, the Italian-Polish winger that Mourinho has promoted to the first team, has been one of the most pleasant surprises for the Roma boss, who appears to have found the heir to Alessandro Florenzi in their youth ranks.
Mourinho's decisions have always been made to strengthen the character of an emotionally weak team. Rui Patricio, Smalling, Nemanja Matic, Dybala and Tammy Abraham have all agreed to stay at the club or extend their contracts solely due to his presence, allowing him to improve the personality of the whole side.
The team everyone is afraid to face
Every team is afraid to face Roma right now. There are many reasons for this and among them is their great tactical organisation under Mourinho.
His three central defenders - Roger Ibanez, Gianluca Mancini and Smalling - are often an insurmountable wall and the midfield is finally thriving from the strength and tactical intelligence of Nemanja Matic, another top player who arrived in Italy at the end of his splendid Premier League career.
While they are by no means the best in Italy, Roma are certainly one of the worst teams to face in Europe due to their newfound enthusiasm after last year's Conference League victory.
Midfielder Nemanja Matic (above) has helped turn Roma into a team everyone is afraid to face
Roma have demonstrated they have an excellent relationship between technical and tactical resources, which helps them achieve solid results on the pitch. They don't play fun football, and sometimes this can be irritating, but even when they play badly they pick up precious points in their bid for Champions League qualification.
Mourinho has also erased the ghost of Nicolo Zaniolo and instead built his team around Dybala, while sacrificing Abraham in the process, to guarantee 53 points and 16 victories with 39 goals scored and 26 conceded - an excellent return that has left them third in the Serie A standings behind Napoli and Lazio.
Will Mourinho stay?
Mourinho feels good in Rome and is comfortable with his surroundings, but whether he stays beyond the end of the season or not is dependent on qualifying for the Champions League.
In just a few years at the club, the former Tottenham boss has become a leader of the people at the Olimpico, and his gesture in this month's win over Sampdoria silenced Roma fans as they began to heavily insult rival manager and former Lazio captain Dejan Stankovic.
Mourinho is a coach with great communication skills, who sometimes exceeds in controversy but always manages to put Roma first.
But Mourinho's future hangs on whether they secure qualification for the Champions League
Immediately after that match against Sampdoria, Mourinho scared supporters by opening up on his ideas for the future.
In 2024 his Roma contract expires, yet the Portuguese coach has hinted that may prove to mean little.
'From a contractual point of view, I have a one-year contract but football is football and sometimes contracts are not the most important thing,' he said.
There are still 45 calendar days to establish his goal of sealing Champions League qualification and soon after Mourinho will reveal a final decision on his future.
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