Roma

Fort Worth native Bryan Reynolds made his first career start for AS Roma on Thursday. It wasn’t a match to remember. 

Reynolds, a right back who moved to Italy from FC Dallas over the summer, was part of the worst defensive performance in José Mourinho’s 1,008-match career in a stunning 6-1 defeat to Bodø/Glimt in the Europa Conference League. Never before had Mourinho, a man often accused of playing boring, defensive football, allowed six goals in a match.

I can’t tell if José Mourinho is trolling Arsenal’s Granit Xhaka, trying to encourage him to do the right thing or both, but the Mourinho Xhaka comment on Instagram has brought something to my attention I did not expect.

Xhaka tested positive for Covid-19 ahead of the international break, keeping the midfielder out of his Switzerland’s friendly with Greece on Wednesday and putting his availability for World Cup qualifiers against Italy and Northern Ireland into doubt. 

José Mourinho is known for many things. Fielding teams which produce energetic, flowing, attacking displays is not one of them.

For the first time in history, Americans will play in all three of UEFA’s European tournaments. This season is also the first time there have been three tournaments, but minor details. There are tons of Americans playing in Europe, but only 22 have made it to the group stages across the three competitions.

Here are the numbers for Americans playing in European tournaments.

• Champions League: 11 Americans
• Europa League: 9 Americans
• Europa Conference League: 2 Americans

First, let’s look at the 11 in the Champions League.

ROME - José Mourinho was never going to walk into a new job quietly, with all eyes on the new AS Roma coach on the eve of the Serie A campaign after a close season full of fireworks.

The final enduring image of Mourinho's first and trophy-laden spell in Italy, was of distraught Inter Milan defender Marco Materazzi being consoled by the Portuguese after hearing of his coach's decision to leave for Real Madrid.

Jose Mourinho has officially managed his first game for AS Roma, and it went about as smooth as possible. Roma hosted Serie D side Montecatini at the training ground on Thursday and gave the poor minnows a proper beatdown 10-0.

Roma played the friendly match somewhat short-handed as players who participated in the Euros weren’t present. Not that it really mattered as the Italian club still cruised to victory.

Roma 10-0 Highlights

Henrikh Mkhitaryan was one of the best midfielders in Europe during the 2020/21 season with Roma. The attacking midfielder’s 28 goal contributions (15 goals and 13 assists) was the second highest among midfielders in Europe sitting only behind Bruno Fernandes.

Statistically, the 2020/21 season was Mkhitaryan’s most productive in half a decade. That’s why it came as such a shock to him that he would be sitting out of future national team duty. 

Mkhitaryan expressed his frustrations on Twitter after receiving the news that he’d been snubbed.

ROME — A Serie A season like no other heralded a changing of the guard at the top of Italian football.

In his second year in charge of Inter Milan, Antonio Conte masterminded a superb league campaign that ended his club's 11-year wait for the title.

| SIAMO NOI

Buonanotte così, #InterFans pic.twitter.com/dmW1WPy1OV