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Special Revenge: The lesson Pedro taught Jose Mourinho in the Roma derby

An unsuccessful connection at Chelsea turned the appreciation between the coach and the winger into an ongoing animosity, which culminated this summer when the Portuguese threw the Spaniard out of Rome.

The ex-battle in the Derby of the Eternal City was Pedro's moment to repay him - and he did it big time.

Will prepare for Lazio's new hero

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• Pedro

• Lazio

Michael Yochin

Monday, September 27, 2021, 12:30 p.m.

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In May, in the penultimate round, Roma had one goal to end the disappointing season with good taste in their mouths - a win in the hot derby over Lazio, and Fredo was the one who secured it. The veteran Spaniard took the ball in the middle of the pitch, circus the defense, sent a missile off the field to the corner with his left foot, set up 0: 2 in the 78th minute, and went out for a huge cheer with his teammates. All the stands in red-yellow rejoiced with him. They could not imagine what would happen in just four months.

Yesterday, Pedro wore light blue in the hot derby, and once again put the ball in the net. This time, too, he set 0: 2, only at the beginning of the match. He sent the ball to the same goal and almost from the same prominence, but to the other corner, with one touch in the burst after a fantastic delivery by Chiro Immobilia, and on the right - because he controls both feet equally. In the end, he also won - this time 2: 3, and entered the history books as only the third player to score for both sides in this special and charged battle.

The other was Alexander Kolarov who started his career in Italy at Lazio, and returned to the Eternal City in the red uniform after seven years at Manchester City.

The first is the Swedish Arena Salamoson - and he was also the only one until yesterday to score for both teams in that calendar year, in March and November 1958. The mythical striker did not celebrate then when he won Rome against Lazio, and became in fact the first player to honor the ex.

The move that summer was made against his will - Lazio simply had to sell their big star to avoid bankruptcy, and Roma took advantage of the situation to make the highest bid and hurt the arch-rival very much.

Feel free to read his special story here.

In contrast, Pedro celebrated.

And how he celebrated!

More on Walla!

Mourinho outraged: "Italian football has improved a lot, it's a pity the referees have not"

To the full article

It hurt the ex, and especially Mourinho.

Pedro celebrates yesterday (Photo: Reuters)

Mourinho brought him to Chelsea

This was to be expected given the circumstances in which he crossed the road. When he arrived in Rome in August 2020, he signed a three-year contract, intending to play for it until the age of 36 - perhaps this was supposed to be the last significant stop in his career before returning to the Canary Islands. Instead, he was thrown out after just one season following the arrival of Jose Mourinho. The Portuguese immediately informed the club that the Spaniard was not in his plans, did not take him to pre-season camp, and forced the parties to cancel his contract.

This plot is amusing because just six years earlier, at the end of the transfer window in 2015, Mourinho had made eighths in the air to bring Pedro to Chelsea.

The winger, realizing that his glorious tenure at Barcelona had come to an end, then conducted advanced negotiations with Manchester United, but the Stamford Bridge special called him personally many times and did not rest until he was convinced it was the right project for him.

"Jose said he needed me to strengthen the team. He won titles everywhere he went, and I look forward to working with him," the star explained at the time.

Barça fans did not approve at the time of his decision to join a team that had become a bitter rival for them, and a coach who positioned himself as the number one enemy of Pep Guardiola and Camp Nou in general.

Relationships ran aground.

Pedro and Mourinho at Chelsea (Photo: GettyImages, Shaun Botterill)

There is no forgiveness for the criticism

This season of Chelsea has crashed quickly. Mourinho was fired in December, and Pedro revealed that his hopes for fruitful work with Boss had not materialized to say the least. In retrospect, he sharply criticized the Portuguese, noting, among other things: "The level of trust between the players and the coach was very low. Nothing was right." He even loudly took the side of Antonio Conte during the mediated conflict between him and Mourinho that stood on the lines of Manchester United.

These statements have not been forgotten, as the Spaniard discovered this summer. Mourinho was willing to straighten things out with Henrikh Mkhitaryan and willingly accepted Chris Smalling, but Pedro was permanently erased from him. Since Pedro's second round last season was relatively weak, except for the goal in the derby, it was easy for him to explain to management that he was not needed - what with the fact that these are new owners, and Pedro was not their acquisition anyway.

For Pedro, it was an unfortunate development.

He not only felt disrespectful towards him on the part of Rome, but also did not long to leave the capital of Italy, where he felt very comfortable after the move.

It is not trivial to move the family from place to place every year, so the interest shown in it by many clubs did not particularly excite him.

Then the simple idea popped into Maurizio Sari's mind.

Lazio's new coach told sporting director Igli Tara - if the city rival is really willing to release Pedro for free, it's time to act.

Jumped on the bargain.

Sari alongside Mourinho (Photo: Reuters)

Sari relies on his winner

Unlike Mourinho, Sari enjoys to the roof working with Pedro at Chelsea in the single season he was given at Stamford Bridge in 2018/19. He finished it with a bachelor's degree in his life when he won the Europa League, and towards the final against Arsenal in Baku he told his assistant Gianfranco Zola: "I put Pedro and Olivier Giroud in the squad. You will choose the rest." He trusted the Spaniard with his eyes closed. "He's a great player who has won every possible title. He always delivers the goods in the moment of truth. I really like his style - always available for delivery, technical, fast. I have a special fondness for players of his kind," said Sari. This was exactly the player he was looking for to match the squad to the only lineup he wanted to implement - 3-3-4 with classic extremists.

And Pedro?

He really enjoyed working with him, and also with Conte.

Thanks to them he connected with Italian football.

Thanks to them he chose to continue his career in boot country.

Now, thanks to Sari, he has been given a chance to avoid moving house, to experience the huge rivalry in Rome from the other side, and to try to show Mourinho where the fish is urinating from.

Sari's arrival in Lazio was a gift from heaven.

The decision was very easy for him, and everything closed at record speed.

Preliminary news about the Eagles' interest in Pedro appeared in the Italian media on August 17.

By August 19, the signing had already taken place.

It turned out that Rome had given Lazio on a tray the missing piece for the puzzle.

The missing part of the puzzle.

Pedro (Photo: Reuters)

Will there be another degree for the collection?

Azure fans had some doubts about their new Spaniard. After all, this is a man who enthusiastically celebrated a goal in a derby in front of them really recently. This move is really unconventional - throughout history Pedro was preceded by only four players who moved directly from Rome to Lazio or vice versa. The last case was somewhere in 1985, and it was substitute goalkeeper Astotillo Malgiolio, who weighed only one game in Rome. Even his fitness was not clear after a period of unhealthy health. Success was by no means guaranteed, and there was a natural suspicion towards Sari's own moves.

However, it turned out to be bingo. Even at 34, Pedro still has a lot more to sell at the high level, and the determination to prove himself has only upgraded him. The early acquaintance with the coach made the adaptation easy, and the Spaniard found a common language with Chiro Immobilia who had already cooked in the second round, at 1: 6 on Spezia. These were happy weeks after a frustrating summer, and the preparations for the derby went great. One could sense that Pedro was going to shine against Mourinho - and that is exactly what happened. One can understand his happiness after the occupation. The revenge on Mourinho was particularly sweet.

One can already start counting the days until the next derby in March, and carefully dream of some new degree with Sari. Pedro has won the World Cup, the European Championship, the Champions League, the European League, the Spanish Championship, the Spanish Cup, the English Championship, the English Cup, as well as the European Super Cup and the World Club Championship. There is no other player in history with such a list. Why not add something to it in Italy as well?

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