Mourinho proud of side's efforts despite narrow loss

The Giallorossi fell to a 1-0 defeat at Juventus Stadium after Moise Kean scored the only goal of the game - although the visitors did see Jordan Veretout's first-half penalty saved by Wojciech Szczesny.

On a controversial evening in Turin, here's what Mourinho had to say after the contest...

After this game, where do you think Roma have already improved this season – and where do you still need to improve to get points from a game like this?

“Today all I can say is we were really good - and I’ve already told my players that. Obviously we are talking about a game that we lost and didn’t get anything from. We can look at the table and see we didn’t add any points. But we were really good in all aspects.

“I have to congratulate everyone within the organisation, from the medical department who worked so hard to get our players fit to some of the players themselves who put in a real effort to play in this game. We all worked together as a group in order to put in a great performance – one full of concentration, confidence and courage.

“Obviously it’s a defeat and it will always be a defeat in my eyes. But if I look at it in terms of the project, if I look at the growth of the squad and the way they are playing, then... I can be wrong, I can have a different perspective to you all, but I think the team that deserved to win this game most is the one that lost. But that’s football.”

What do you think about the penalty? It seems like you were more angry that there were only three minutes of injury time at the end of the game?

“Yes – because that’s something obvious, that shows something’s up. It’s different to the episode for the penalty, which I don’t want to comment on.

"I don’t have all the details at my disposal, I haven’t seen it and I want to try and look beyond that moment and focus on everything my team did all game instead. I don’t know. I hope that the comments I head from Juventus in the changing room one of them will also say publicly, because my team warrant that.”

What did you hear from them?

“They played well, that they found it really difficult and that they know very well how football can end up sometimes, because they are all experienced professionals. I won here a few years ago [with Manchester United] without really deserving much from the game, and today instead I lost with my team, with our qualities and our defects.

“We put in a performance that really shows the direction we are heading in. But, as I’ve said, a defeat is a defeat and the cruel reality is that it’s zero points for us today.”

So you mean that Juventus were complimentary about the Roma display?

“Exactly.”

What happened between Tammy Abraham and Jordan Veretout for the penalty? Did you say something to either of them?

“Abraham is a courageous boy and full of confidence. He was involved in the build-up to that penalty and, even just before that, he had been involved in a moment that had really lifted the rest of the team.

“But we have a hierarchy for the penalties: Veretout is the primary taker, then there’s Lorenzo Pellegrini and Tammy Abraham is third in line. But, in the heat of the moment, if someone wants to take the penalty and Jordan decides to let them, that’s not a problem for me.

“Both of them had really good games. I told the players that, when you play in a game like that, you can’t let yourself go home with regrets – you have to go home realising that you did well, that you were as good as your opponents and even perhaps better than them.

“We had a gameplan for this one, we stopped them from counter-attacking completely – even though we wanted to play pretty high up the pitch, we still managed to stop them on the counter, which is pretty good when Juventus have really dangerous players on the counter like Cuadrado and Chiesa.

“We built our play in central areas. Obviously, when you play against a side that really defends well like Juventus, with two great centre-backs in there, it’s not easy – but I think we did enough to win the game or at least come home with a draw.

“At half-time I told the players that we were not going to draw the game: we would win it or we would lose it, because if we scored one goal then they would have found themselves in real trouble. The difficulty is scoring against a side that feels comfortable defending. When they have that low block then it is not easy to score.

“But, nevertheless, we played well and I want to congratulate my players for that. It was a good Roma display and I’m happy with the way the squad is developing and trying to play.”

Has Tammy Abraham already settled into Italian football – and your style of football?

“This league is different to the one he’s come from. And the way he wants to play, especially defensively, is a bit different from what we want to do. We have different tactical positions when we have the ball and when we don’t have the ball – for the latter we have a 4-4-2 and it’s vital that he and Lorenzo Pellegrini always know when to press and when to close the spaces. That’s the work of any No. 9, but in England the No. 9 often pushes very high up.

“Of course, Abraham still has the chance to break in behind the defence – but we are not a counter-attacking side, we are a side that wants to defend in a solid 4-4-2. He is learning that and it’s a process for him to adapt.

“But, having said all that, he’s a great boy with that instinctive approach young guys have. We are delighted to have him, just like we are happy to have all the young guys we have on the bench who still need to grow to reach the level of a club like ours – and a project like ours where we want to reach the highest levels.”