Roma coach Jose Mourinho has taken fresh aim at the Europa League as he prepares for their semi against Bayer Leverkusen.

Roma meet Bayer defending a 1-0 aggregate lead.

Mourinho said: "If I didn't have the ambition to win it, it would have been easy to say that we have already won the Europa League.

"If the competition were only for those who started it then it would already be ours. But that's not the case. Experience makes us think and say that it's 1-0 for us at the interval and that there is still a second half to play.

"Be more value a team that has played 14 games in the Europa League, rather than a team that invests in the Champions League and finds itself here after the group stage."