Mourinho proud of players despite defeat

Jose Mourinho was proud of his players' efforts despite Saturday's 3-1 defeat to Inter Milan on Saturday evening.

The Giallorossi's 12-game unbeaten run came to an end at San Siro, with Henrikh Mkhitaryan's late goal ultimately proving to be only a small consolation.

See what Mourinho had to say about the contest...

For the first 30 minutes, up until the opening goal, Roma were holding their own out there. After that, did Inter’s quality become a bit too much for Roma?

“First and foremost, it was Inter’s quality. They are the strongest squad in the league with players that are great in all aspects: tactically, technically and physically. I would even add that, meant in the right way, they have a lot of ‘animals’ in their squad. They are very strong.

“To win against Inter, either you win during a moment when they are struggling a bit – which has happened to them a couple of weeks during this season – or you have to be absolutely perfect. And tonight we were not perfect.

“We were good, but we were not perfect, because we had a great chance when it was still 0-0 – the free-kick that Gianluca Mancini met – and then 10 seconds after that they scored on the counter-attack.

“Their second goal comes from a ball we lost in midfield when they wanted to get in behind again. So we got to the end of the first-half with the feeling that we had been doing well, but then we had a slight loss of concentration and then confidence in those final 10 or 15 minutes.

“In the second half it happened again, we conceded a goal from a set-piece situation, one that my players know all about because we’ve talked about them a lot. Without Bryan Cristante we were without a key player defending set pieces today, and Inter are really good in that aspect too. So then we again lost a bit of confidence and courage to play.

“But if you have to lose a game after three months unbeaten, 12 games in Serie A, then I prefer to lose to a side that is stronger than us.

“Now we need to rest up, we need to chase the dream of getting to the final of the Europa Conference League. We know Thursday [away to Leicester City] will be a really tough game. But I am proud of my players. As I said, if I have to lose then I prefer to do it against sides stronger than I am.”

What do Roma need to add in order to close the gap with the sides above them?

“We need time, hard work and the players to continue to develop. Nicola Zalewski has a lot of quality, but he is still a kid who is going to make errors. There are teams, like Inter for example, who have paid a lot of money to have a player like Robin Gosens on the bench. We cannot pay for a player like Gosens on the bench, so we work with a player like Zalewski in order to improve him. That’s just one example.

“I think Roma have improved a lot as a group compared to three months ago, in all aspects. And I believe our playing style is very, very positive. So if we have not had more chances today, not had more goals, then that is credit to the opposition.

“We tried to create openings in different ways but they were very good. Skriniar didn’t lose an individual battle, De Vrij had no fear going up against a player like Tammy [Abraham] and the two wide players, Perisic and Dumfries, were strong in the individual battles and created chances as well.

“Inter are a really good side, I am not at all disappointed with my players. If we had not been playing against Inter today, but a mid-table side, then we would have done enough to win.”

So if you have to lose, you prefer to lose to Inter?

“No, no, that’s not true. I love Inter and Inter love me, but I want to win every game. Now that we do not have to play against either Inter or Milan or Juve or Napoli again this season, then I can say that obviously I would be happy if Inter win the Scudetto. But before the game I want to win and I forget where I have been before. I love Inter but I love Roma and I love my job now. We get paid to win.”

What did you focus on ahead of this game?

“We wanted to engage them high up the pitch, but when you are preparing for a game against Inter you always run into problems: if you try to close them down over here then they are equally good playing over there, if you try to play direct they are very good at dealing with that, so if you try and build from the back they also already know how to deal with that.

“They have a tactical identity built up over three years, two of those with Antonio Conte and now with Simone Inzaghi. They have a clear culture behind them and they know how to play in different ways; if you create a problem for them then they can create different problems for you. They are a really tough side to face.

“Even if the result tonight is very similar to the first meeting and the one in the Coppa Italia, the way we played against them was completely different. We are improving as a team.

“Obviously the result is always the most important thing – but the way in which we play, that development, is important to me.

“If we had made it 1-0 early on, it would have been a very different game. The pressure would have been on them. But that’s football. When you are playing against a better side than yours you can’t afford to make any mistakes and you also need something to go your way. Congratulations to them.”