Roma’s preparations for meeting Andriy Shevchenko’s Genoa went up in smoke after two players were excluded from the game at the eleventh hour

Jose Mourinho’s Roma were already without a number of players for their weekend encounter with Genoa, and the manager suffered another setback after two of his players returned positive Covid tests.

Mourinho has expressed frustration at being without Bryan Cristante and Gonzalo Villar ahead of the game, which will also serve as a Serie A debut for opposition manager Andriy Shevchenko.

Back-to-back defeats before the international break had seen Roma leave the top four in Italy, but they would have imagined their chances against their relegation-threatened visitors ahead of the double setback.

Now, however, Mourinho has made his feelings very clear after being forced into changes with the game just around the corner.

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Roma’s loss to Venezia in their last league game was another blow for a side struggling to cope with a growing injury list.

Leonardo Spinazzola remains sidelined from the injury he sustained in Italy during Euro 2020, while Chris Smalling is out of action last month.

Cristante is a particularly big loss, with the Italy international having made more than 20 club and country appearances this season.

“All the work that we did during the week that your sources told you about, it all went in the trash,” Mourinho said in his pre-match press conference, translated by Football Italia.

“I think this can be a good opportunity for us to see which of you are really smart. Only I know who will play tomorrow. Even my assistants don’t know. Your sources are of no use today.

“It all happened so fast this morning, we couldn’t even manage a practice session. “

Shevchenko bows out as club manager, but the former AC Milan striker – who also played under Mourinho at Chelsea – was in the Ukrainian dugout as his side reached the quarter-finals of Euro 2020 .

“He played well for Ukraine, proving he has a clear football philosophy,” Mourinho said of the 45-year-old.

“He’s a calm leader, because he’s a calm person.

“I would like him to experience what I did in my first game as a coach: I lost, but then won a lot of trophies.”

While Roma have fallen to sixth place with their recent defeats against Milan and Venice, they remain far ahead of their weekend opponents.

Genoa parted ways with manager Davide Ballardini after winning just one of their first 12 games, moving quickly to name Shevchenko as his replacement.

If the Ukrainian is able to win in his first game, he can help the club stand out from the last three.