Jose Mourinho believes Roma ‘deserved to win’ against Napoli but still feels confident about the future of his team. The Giallorossi put in a hard-working performance at the Stadio Maradona and despite going a goal down thanks to a Victor Osimhen golazo, they were able to equalise through a well worked Stephan El Shaarawy goal. A late winner from Giovanni Simeone dashed their hopes of securing a point and speaking to DAZN at fulltime, Mourinho was reflective on his teams display, and believes there were positives to glean:
We had a period of 10/15 minutes after Osimhen’s goal, where you could sense the feeling of injustice in the air.
The team was always in control, recovering the ball and defending very well. I think this is the type of game where you lose and come out more confident than before. We are the team that made Napoli suffer the most, we scared them all. Tonight we played in a stadium that seemed empty to us. Despite the result, I remain confident.
Three substitutions included kids who last year were playing with the Primavera. Sometimes football is unfair, the team that deserves the most loses, I’m sorry for the result but I say it with great pride and to the fans – see you on Wednesday at the Olimpico.
At times we won without deserving, but today I think we deserved to win the game. I am sad about the result, you cannot smile too much when you lose, but with full hearts we move on.
Pellegrini? Lorenzo hasn’t trained with the team for two weeks, he only trained yesterday, he made plenty of sacrifices to play here tonight. He wasn’t at his peak condition, he lacked form and intensity. Matic and Mancini played very well. With the qualities at our disposal we played well tonight.
When I compare the results from last year, and consider the mental lapses we had then, I am very, very happy with the boys.
Zaniolo? I want players who want to play for Roma and who are available. If you don’t like it in the family then you should just leave. Here there’s only room for those that want to be with us.”
