Mourinho: Dybala gave us our spark back

Mourinho was given a straight red card late in the contest at the Stadio Olimpico, so he was not pitchside when Nemanja Matic finally delivered an injury-time equaliser to cancel out Karol Linetty's opener.

Here is what Mourinho had to say on TV after the game...

What happened for your sending off?

“The red card was deserved, what I said warranted a red card. I spoke to the referee after the game and I apologised, but I don’t want to discuss how he officiated the game. I had the humility to apologise for the words I used, but the discussion about his performance during the game I will leave to you all.”

What was it from the referee that you didn’t like?

“I don’t want to talk about it. The game is over, and the only game you can win now is not the one that has just finished – but the next one. I spoke with the referee and I really don’t want to discuss it all publicly.”

Talking about the game itself, then…

“Which one of them? There was one up until 70 minutes, one in which the Roma fans wanted to go home. They were annoyed and whistling. Whereas in the final 20 minutes in the other game we created more than we managed in the last four or five matches.

“Why is that? It’s simple, when someone like Dybala isn’t playing it becomes very different for us. I don’t want to get into imaginary scenarios, but how many points would we have picked up from the last six games if Dybala had played? And for two of them we didn’t even have Pellegrini either. You can see the issues we have with how we play, but the spark is there with those two.

“There are players who are struggling for fitness and need to recover. Individually speaking, there are a few who need to reflect on things, reflect on their own performances – like I will do with myself.

“But, having said that, only a united side like we are could have done what we did today. When you hit the post twice and miss a penalty in injury time, usually that’s it for you – but instead we battled until the very end. I see those 20 minutes as 20 minutes of reasons to be hopeful. The hope of seeing Dybala, Pellegrini and everyone else on the pitch together – even Tahirovic. It’s been a few weeks now that I’ve been saying he was ready and today he came on and did well. Congratulations to him on his debut.”

Does the team lack the right mentality?

“It’s the players that build the mentality. People talk a lot about the culture of a club, of its fanbase or its city but in my opinion everything is built on the mentality the players bring.”

Was Andrea Belotti the designated penalty taker today?

“No.”

Who was?

“I’m not going to tell you, but it wasn’t Belotti. The issue is never in making a mistake, but if you don't stand up and give everything you are capable of. Belotti had the courage to step up and take the penalty, at least he had the courage to do that.”