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Renato Sanches was sensationally substituted just 18 minutes after being brought on by Jose Mourinho in Roma‘s Serie A defeat against Bologna on Sunday night.
Sanches was introduced at the start of the second half in place of Leonardo Spinazzola with Roma trailing by a goal at the interval.
But the Portuguese midfielder was called off again by Mourinho with just 64 minutes on the clock, meaning he had lasted only 18 minutes on the pitch.
The former Benfica and Bayern Munich player, who is on loan at Roma from Paris Saint Germain, has struggled with his fitness all season and is yet to complete 90 minutes in nine appearances for the Giallorossi.
This was the fourth time he has featured for under 20 minutes in a match and his quick substitution can be interpreted as a pointed message from Mourinho.
Sanches looked over in disbelief as his number came up on the board and eventually walked off the side of the pitch as he was replaced by Edoardo Bove.
45’ Subbed on63’ Subbed off 😬Renato Sanches was speechless when Jose Mourinho took him off just 18 minutes after coming on 😳 pic.twitter.com/7IAwZz6F6WDecember 17, 2023
While Sanches was on the pitch, Bologna made it 2-0 through a Rasmus Kristensen own goal, with Nikola Moro having earlier opened the scoring.
Roma were unable to get back into the game and are down in seventh place in Serie A following their fifth defeat of an inconsistent season.
Mourinho remains under pressure following some mixed results this term and on this evidence, Sanches seems unlikely to have much of a future at the Stadio Olimpico, either.
The midfielder, now 26 years old, has already represented six different clubs in five countries in a chaotic career and has not reached 100 appearances for any of those teams.
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