Jose Mourinho suffered one of biggest defeats of his coaching career as AS Roma stumbled to a shock 6-1 loss at Norwegian champions Bodo/Glimt in the Europa Conference League on Thursday.
Erik Botheim and Ola Solbakken scored twice each for the home side, who led 2-1 at halftime and ran rampant in the second period to stun the Italians.
It was the first time in 1,008 games as a coach that a Mourinho side conceded six goals or more.
He did rest a number of first-team regulars, perhaps in anticipation of a comfortable night, and was made to pay.
“I decided to play with this line-up, so the responsibility is mine,” the 58-year-old Portuguese told Sky Sport Italia. “I did it with good intentions, to give an opportunity to those who work hard and to rotate the squad on a synthetic pitch in cold weather.
“I never disguised the fact we were a squad with real limitations. We have 13 players who represent one team, the others are on a different level. We lost against a team that showed more quality on the night. It’s that simple.”
The defeat may not have been quite as painful for Mourinho as Real Madrid’s humiliating 5-0 loss to Barcelona in 2010 but Roma, who started the Europa Conference League with two wins, are now in second in the group on six points, one behind Bodo/Glimt.
Results from the Europa League on Thursday:
Ludogorets (0) 0 Sporting Braga (1) 1
Midtjylland (0) 1 Crvena Zvezda (0) 1
Lazio (0) 0 Olympique Marseille (0) 0
Real Betis (0) 1 Bayer Leverkusen (0) 1
Rapid Wien (2) 2 Dinamo Zagreb (1) 1
Fenerbahçe (2) 2 Antwerp (1) 2
Lokomotiv Moskva (0) 0 Galatasaray (0) 1
Napoli (0) 3 Legia Warszawa (0) 0
Sparta Praha (2) 3 Olympique Lyonnais (1) 4
Rangers (2) 2 Brøndby (0) 0
West Ham United (1) 3 Genk (0) 0
PSV (0) 1 Monaco (1) 2
Sturm Graz (0) 0 Real Sociedad (0) 1
Eintracht Frankfurt (2) 3 Olympiakos Piraeus (1) 1
REUTERS