Leicester manager hails Roma counterpart as their teams lock horns in Europa Conference League semis
\nNews Agency
\nLEICESTER
\nLeicester manager Brendan Rodgers has hailed Jose Mourinho as \u201cone of the greats\u201d as he prepares to pit his wits against the Roma boss in the Europa Conference League semi-finals on Thursday.
\nRodgers\u2019 side host Roma in the first leg as Mourinho returns for his first game on English soil since being sacked by Tottenham last year.
\nMourinho has endured a difficult period at Roma, who sit fifth in Serie A after a season that has strengthened the belief of some critics that the Portuguese coach is past his best.
\nBut Rodgers, who was youth team coach at Chelsea during Mourinho\u2019s first spell at Stamford Bridge, is adamant his old boss is still a force to be reckoned with.
\n\u201cHe has nothing to prove to anyone,\u201d Rodgers told reporters on Wednesday. \u201cHe will always be a winner. I cannot speak any higher of him. He is one of the greats of our generation.
\n\u201cI have got nothing but admiration for him. I became a manager in my own right but I will never forget what I gained from him as a young coach. I studied him and watched him and at that time it was a really special period.\u201d
\nIn his prime, Mourinho won the Champions League with Porto and Inter Milan and secured three Premier League titles over two stints at Chelsea.
\nHe led Inter to a pair of Serie A titles and won La Liga with Real Madrid, while also lifting Manchester United\u2019s most recent trophies in 2017.
\nAsked what makes him rank Mourinho among the great managers of all time, Rodgers pointed to the 59-year-old\u2019s array of qualities.
\n\u201cHe had the X factor. There wasn\u2019t one single thing. He was brilliant in so many aspects of the game,\u201d Rodgers said.
\n\u201cDetail-orientated, man-management of the players, his understanding of the tactical adaptation of the game, he had that special quality I was able to see.\u201d
\nDespite criticism of the Europa Conference League when it was launched, Rodgers believes the continent\u2019s third-tier tournament has been an entertaining success in its first season.
\nAfter winning Leicester\u2019s first-ever FA Cup last season, he has his sights on their maiden European prize.
\n\u201cIt\u2019s a prestigious competition, all four teams will want to win it,\u201d he said.
\n\u201cIt\u2019s a fantastic occasion against a top-class team. To get to the final we will do everything we can. It\u2019s another symbol of our growth as a club.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Leicester manager hails Roma counterpart as their teams lock horns in Europa Conference League semis News Agency LEICESTER Leicester manager Brendan Rodgers has hailed Jose Mourinho as \u201cone of the greats\u201d as he prepares to pit his wits against the Roma boss in the Europa Conference League semi-finals on Thursday. Rodgers\u2019 side host Roma in […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":258045,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[6610,6612,6611],"class_list":{"0":"post-258018","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-sports","8":"tag-brendan-rodgers","9":"tag-jose-mourinho","10":"tag-winner"},"yoast_head":"\n