Hellas Verona inflicted the first defeat for Jose Mourinho as AS Roma coach in a tightly contested game on Sunday evening.
Second half goals from Antonin Barak, Gianluca Caprari and Marco Faraoni canceled out Lorenzo Pellegrini‘s opener to end Roma’s winning start to the season.
The visitors appeared to be on course for a routine win when Pellegrini found the back of the net with a back-heel flick in the 39th minute.
But the hosts came out of the break flying and scored two goals in the space of five minutes to turn the game around.
First, it was Antonin Barak who scored in the 49th minute, pouncing on a spilt shot to level the scoring.
Gianluca Caprari doubled Verona’s lead with a finely taken goal five minutes later as the rain continued to pour in Veneto.
But Roma were back on level terms four minutes after falling behind. Ivan Ilic scored an own goal as he contested with Roma’s striker Tammy Abraham to a cross.
However, Verona’s captain Faraoni took matters into his own hands and put his side ahead five minutes later, with a fine volley from the edge of the box.
Mourinho’s men piled on the pressure in search of an equaliser but could not find a way past an organised host’s defence.
The result leaves them in second place, and with nine points after four games.
First loss for Mourinho
José Mourinho celebrated his 1,000th game as a manager last week with a win and had maintained his 100% record in the Serie A since his return.
The Portuguese has turned Roma into a solid outfit since his appointment and has overseen an upturn in his side’s fortunes all around.
Before Sunday’s game, Mourinho had won seven of the competitive matches he had overseen as Roma coach and was on course to record a straight eight win.
But his side was outsmarted by Hellas Verona, who ended the game with more ball possession and shots on target than Roma.
The Portuguese was visibly upset at his side’s performance and will be giving some of his players a handful when they regroup.
“We didn’t play very well; we didn’t adapt well to their way of playing,” Mourinho told DAZN after the game.
“We lost many individual duels. I need the videos. I need a few hours to better understand what happened.”
Winning start for Tudor
While Mourinho lost his first match, Verona won their first match of the season. The hosts before the game had lost their opening three games and were rooted in bottom place.
Their poor form led to the sacking of former coach Eusebio Di Francesco in midweek. He was replaced with former Juventus player Igor Tudor.
The win against Roma means that the Croat has got off a winning start. He will be pleased with his side’s performance in the game as they showed more commitment and energy than Roma.
Despite having little time for preparation, he was able to organise his side and snatch a result from this game, despite falling behind in the first half.
His side have now moved out of the bottom three and up to 14th, and he will be looking to continue his winning run when his side faces Salernitana in midweek.
