Jose Mourinho hits back at criticism after missing AS Roma training session on eve of AC Milan clash

The club face a huge Serie A clash with AC Milan this Sunday night as they look to close the gap on the top four.

Roma enter the weekend in eighth, though they are just our points adrift of fourth-placed Fiorentina.

Mourinho, who was already under scrutiny following a Coppa Italia derby loss to Lazio, faced more criticism this week for missing a training session.

“I’ve been here for two years and five months and I’m the only person who hasn’t missed a single minute of training,” said the Special One who went off to film an interview for his Netflix special.

“I was out for 14 hours and it’s not right to make this a big thing. I have never missed a match,” he added. “But I had been given the club’s permission to miss training.”

Roma are struggling to find consistency having failed to bag successive victories since October.

Mourinho’s men have won just one of their last four outings, with the manager getting himself sent-off during Wednesday’s derby defeat to Lazio.

The Portuguese coach said, as quoted by Roma Press: “We analysed the things we didn’t do well in the derby. Now we start again and think about the next match.”

He added: “I talked to my players. There’s a difference between difficulty and using difficulty as a way to justify the fact that we need to give more.

“During this discussion I was hard on some players. We conceded a goal due to our wrong throw-in. There’s some players who must give more individually.

“I am not a high official in the club but I represent Roma. I must have played 150 derbies, they have always been special. In Rome I understood what it means to play against Lazio.

“When we won 3-0 we humiliated them. The derbies we’ve lost all come from refereeing mistakes or individual errors.

“Our season started off really badly. We lost 8 points to begin with. We didn’t have the proper team to start the season with. Then, we played many big matches with few players available. Forgetting our difficulties is not right.

“As the coach, I have to defend my group. We are a group of serious people. We lost a derby, but we are 4 points away from the Champions League. Right now we’re fighting for something that is very important. I’m sorry I will not be there tomorrow.”

Roma travel away to San Siro this Sunday night as they look to hand AC Milan just their second defeat in seven games.