Mourinho defends players after loss

Mattias Svanberg got the only goal of the game at the Stadio Renato Dall'Ara on a night where the Giallorossi's recent winning run came to an end.

In further bad news, yellow cards for Tammy Abraham and Rick Karsdorp mean both will now be suspended for Saturday's Serie A home game with Inter Milan - while Stephan El Shaarawy could be an injury doubt after limping off during the contest.

“We have a game on Saturday and we will have to come up with a team for that one now," he said.

"At least I took off Gianluca Mancini when I did, otherwise probably he would have got a yellow card too and missed the game with Inter.

"Congratulations to Bologna, to Sinisa, to the players – they fought hard and got the three points. Congratulations to them.

“And well done to my players too, because once again they gave it their all even though they seemed to be up against everything and anything; injuries before the game, injuries during the game, ‘hidden’ injuries to players who played the full 90 minutes. Then there were a few incidents … but my players kept fighting.

“I am always proud of these boys. Because even if we have lost, I don’t have a bitter taste about it. I stand behind them.

“I will finish with one observation. I want to say something that probably goes against my interests: if I were Nicolo Zaniolo, I would start thinking that perhaps playing in Serie A means things will be stacked against me.”