6 June 5, 2022The Sunday Times 2GSFootball
José Mourinho is “very happy” at
Roma and unlikely to leave the club
this summer, even if Paris Saint-
Germain were to ask him to replace
Mauricio Pochettino as coach
(Duncan Castles writes).
The Qatar-owned club is working
on a radical overhaul of its football
operations in a bid to secure a firstChampions League title, with a new
coach one of several planned
changes. While PSG have sought to
hire Mourinho on at least three
previous occasions, The Sunday
Times understands there have been
no recent talks with the 59-year-old.
According to a close friend of
Mourinho, he would not agitate for a
move after a productive and
enjoyable first season back in Italian
football. Last month he led Roma totheir first European trophy in
61 years by winning the inaugural
Europa Conference League.
After that triumph, he said: “I am
staying, there’s no doubt about that.
We need to see what our owners,
who are fantastic people, want to do
next season because this is history;
we can build a special project.”
PSG have asked Luis Campos to
take over from Leonardo as sporting
director. Campos was hired byMourinho as a technical scout for
Real Madrid and has maintained a
close friendship with his Portuguese
compatriot for over a decade.
Christophe Galtier, who worked
with Campos in guiding Lille to the
2020-21 Ligue 1 title, and Rúben
Amorim, of Sporting Lisbon, are
other candidates to succeed
Pochettino should the former
Tottenham Hotspur manager lose
his job in France, as seems likely.MOURINHO SET TO REJECT
ANY APPROACH FROM PSGT
he beauty of Gareth Bale is
that he has been there and
done it. Whether it’s Champi-
ons League finals, nerve-
racking European Champi-
onship semi-finals, moments
of extreme pressure or han-
dling the expectation of an
entire nation, he has known how to
successfully come through each situa-
tion. The special thing about Gareth —
Gaz to us — is that he is humble to
know how to feed his knowledge to his
Wales team-mates as he will have done
before they face Ukraine in the World
Cup play-off today.
It is our biggest match in a genera-
tion and for Gaz and other stars, this is
probably the last chance to step on the
biggest stage. We delivered messages
differently. I was aggressive, blood
and thunder and he was quite calm
and took things down a notch, which
is probably his tone as captain. Gaz is a
bit of a realist and his points were
always good. Though comfortable in
front of the group, he was better talk-what has not. Gaz has the utmost
respect for Pagey but will not be shy
saying: “No, I don’t think that will
work.” Gaz was always involved in the
finer details of planning, when we
trained, the logistics of travel, what
time we flew. For instance he some-
times said it would be uncomfortable
wearing suits on the plane and we
would change from casual gear on
landing. Those details were his call.
He knows how to lighten the mood.
In our camps he was the chief prank-
ster and would jump out of corridors
and scare people, helped by Joe Led-
ley and Wayne Hennessey. In training
he’d practise penalties every day after
the session and dream up goal cele-
brations. You might have noticed
Wales players pose in a lopsided for-
mation for team photos, sometimes
with just three players standing and
the rest crouching. It started by acci-
dent when someone spotted we could
not do it in an orderly way and we
decided to embellish things. Gaz
would often be the ringleader explain-
ing how we needed to mess up.
I am pretty sure Gaz will call it a day
for Wales if we do not get the result.
There will be questions over Aaron,
Joe Allen, Wayne and Chris Gunter.
None are too old for international
football but being away takes its toll. I
can see that, enjoying my family time.
When I first joined the squad weing with players individually about
what they need to do and what they
can do in the game. I’ve no doubt that
once Wales knew they would be
playing Ukraine, Gaz, Aaron Ramsey
and Joe Allen, as the senior players,
would tweak bits of the final plan and
give advice to younger players like Joe
Rodon, Ethan Ampadu and Nico
Williams.
Gaz is unselfish and will not be
thinking, “this is my last shot at a
World Cup”. Our whole ethos in reach-
ing Euro 2016 was “Together
Stronger”, which sounds like a throw-
away line, but the slogan remains. We
need players, substitutes, staff and
fans united. Gaz will emphasise that
and make everyone feel special. If we
qualify, he will be the first to ensure
everyone is part of the celebration.
The reality is Gaz has more experi-
ence of big occasions than Rob Page,
the manager. Pagey is not an arrogant
man and will have tapped into that
knowhow about what has worked andASHLEY
WILLIAMS86 caps for Wales and captained
the side at Euro 2016Gareth Bale has said Wales will
have no sentiment for Ukraine in
their World Cup play-off this
afternoon (Gary Jacob writes).
The Wales captain appreciates
that the meeting in Cardiff for a
place at the finals in Qatar will be
loaded with emotion and that
Ukraine will have enormous
international support, because of
the Russian invasion.
Bale said Wales will divorce the
sport from politics and they
would make no apology should
they win. “As horrible as it sounds,
no [apology]” Bale, 32, said. “We
understand the awful things
going on in Ukraine. Our hearts go
out to the kids, families and
people of Ukraine. We understand
what it will do for them but we
want to get to the World Cup. That
is not coming from a horrible
place, it is coming from our
country and hearts as we want to
deliver for our fans.”
As a mark of their preparation,
Bale asked not to attend the
media session in person so that
he would have his usual afternoon
physio session. Wales have no
injury concerns and are expected
to start with the same outfield
side who beat Austria in March.
Bale also confirmed that he
would need to find a new club in
the run up to the tournament if
Wales qualify, having left Real
Madrid. “I’m not concentrating on
what lies ahead,” he said.‘NO APOLOGY TO
UKRAINE IF WE WIN’and it will be strange to feel like every-
one wants Ukraine to win. The players
can divorce the politics and game. It
sounds like a cliché but they need to
play the game as any other. There will
be no sentiment. Wales can lean on
the experience of being at consecutive
tournaments.
We hosted Georgia when they were
at war with Russia in 2008. I could feel
they were playing with extra emotion
and they won 2-1 in a friendly in Swan-
sea. That makes me a little nervous
about Ukraine. They could also,
though, be a little spent from the men-
tal and physical energy consumed in
beating Scotland 3-1 on Wednesday.
I have a feeling we will go for it and
Ukraine might play on the counter.
Roman Yaremchuk and Andriy
Yarmolenko will be a handful and
Ukraine are strong in midfield and on
the left. Georgiy Bushchan looked
shaky in goal and we can exploit their
full backs if they play high. I never had
nerves as a player but I can feel them
as Wales’ biggest fan. I know Gaz will
be the calmest around.‘Gareth said it would
be uncomfortable
wearing suits on the
plane. Those details
were his call’ON TV TODAY
Wales v Ukraine
ITV & Sky Sports Main, kick-off 5pmBale isn’t just a talisman
on the pitch for Wales –
he is across all the finer
details in effort to give
the team an extra edge
lost the experience of the older play-
ers leaving en masse. This time there
has been a steady integration of
youngsters who have a healthy num-
ber of caps: Ethan has 33 caps aged 21;
Connor Roberts, 35 caps at 26; Joe, 24
caps at 24. That will serve Wales well
in the next campaign. I knew Joe from
when he was a kid at Swansea and he
has a similar playing style to me. He
always wanted to absorb information
that I tried to pass on. Ethan has a nice
personality and will do great things.
Brennan Johnson, 21, looks classy.
Ethan mentioned that players
would watch clips of World Cups as
motivation. The analytics team pro-
duced videos for us that brought
home the magnitude of the game.
Sometimes it was about a moment in
qualification, a piece of history about
the Welsh football team or most
touchingly messages from family and
friends. One would be shown on the
coach from the hotel to the stadium
and another in the changing room.
Being in a position to regularly
qualify for tournaments is what we
mapped out when I sat down with the
late Gary Speed when he took charge
in 2010. It came to fruition when we
reached Euro 2016 and I have regu-
larly been approached by people who
tell me their memories of that time.
People around Europe fell in love with
our unlikely path to the semi-finalsLAST CHANCE
FOR GAZ AND CO