Mourinho: Tonight we did absolutely everything we could to win

Cristian Volpato and Stephan El Shaarawy scored in injury time to finally end the home side's resistance, after their early lead had been cancelled out by Nicolo Zaniolo on the stroke of half-time.

Volpato's decisive intervention - which arrived just as the 90 minutes were coming to a close - sparked wild celebrations at the Roma end of the ground.

Here is what Mourinho had to say to TV reporters afterwards...

In the end it took everything you had in attack to get the win – and yet it was a young boy who got the goal for you...

“First of all, I want to express my sympathies towards Verona. They fought to come away with at least a point tonight. They have a young coach who shuffled his pack well when they went down to 10 men; they stayed in a man marking scheme, they dropped a bit deeper and they made things hard for us even if we had an extra man. They fought for everything and they did a good job of timewasting a bit as well.

“Obviously I am really pleased with the win – I can’t be too hypocritical about that – but I have a positive feeling towards them. The aren’t in a great position in the league at the moment but I’m truly sorry for the players, the coach and the fans about that.

“We did everything we could to win the game tonight. On occasions I come away from matches with the feeling that I could have done something differently to better help my team, but tonight I have the feeling that there is literally nothing more I could have done. I did everything possible – I changed the system twice, I put on every attacking player I could have done, I believed in the talent of a young boy [Volpato] and his creativity and his eye for goal. And I also believed that Nemanja Matic could make the difference – because it’s one thing to build from the back with three central defenders and another when it is Nemanja in there with two of them.

“Obviously whenever you win in the 90th minute you can say that there was a bit of luck involved – but we were searching for that moment of luck for 45 minutes.”

How much will Zaniolo’s goal tonight help him and his confidence? Do you agree that was important for him?

“I do. But his attitude, his desire to help the team and his commitment to the cause was all there – at times there is frustration, of course, but I am never angry just because Nicolo doesn’t score a goal or two.

“He’s a boy that gives everything that he has, that makes things incredibly difficult for the opposition and forces them into making fouls – some of which are a bit more aggressive than is necessary. I am pleased for him.”

And tonight a young player scored – can all these youngsters have a big role to play?

“It’s a process. It’s one thing if a player trains with the Primavera, or trains with the Primavera and every once in a while comes up to ‘eat’ with the first-team, and another again if the youngster leaves the Primavera behind and becomes a member of the first-team squad. Edoardo Bove went through that transition last season and now he is a first-team player.

“And now that’s what Volpato is doing. This season, after having a taste of the first-team, he signed a contract extension, and now he is a player with first-team quality. He’s young, he has a lot still to learn every day, but he’s already at the level required.

“When I put him in it wasn’t me being crazy or taking an absurd risk. I didn’t know for sure that he was going to score the winning goal, but I knew he had the capability of doing so.”

Of course there’s another game on Thursday, but on Sunday there is now the derby…

“The derby doesn’t interest me at all right now. Whenever a coach thinks about a game that isn’t the next one, it usually doesn’t go very well for them. I’ve learned that in the past.

“And when you make a mistake like that, it’s hard to live with it afterwards. Even if sometimes – and I can admit it now – the error can go unnoticed because attention goes elsewhere. But I completely refuse to talk about the next game in the league now. And if one of my players does, then they are making a mistake. I won’t make that mistake.

“We need to play the game on Thursday fight, and then on Friday morning we can start thinking about the one after that.”