Mourinho pleased despite close final scoreline

Here's what the coach had to say, on a night where Bryan Cristante scored the decisive goal for the Giallorossi.

“I liked everything [I saw]. Obviously I would have been even happier to not have any worries, if the scoreline had been 4-0 or 5-0. But, nevertheless, I enjoyed watching a team that – even if they did not score the goals they should have done – showed the maturity and the know-how to see out the game.

“Usually, in this sort of game where you are in a position to score four or five goals and you don’t do it, things end up finishing badly and you pay the price. But it didn’t finish badly and we didn’t suffer – because those who came on when Tammy, Zaniolo and Dybala were tired did not come on to kill the game but to managed it.

“The way Matic and Wijnaldum came on and helped the team ensured it was a relatively comfortable finish to the game. If you asking me if I would like to be able to change forwards of that level with other forwards of the same level, then that’s something only the likes of Manchester City, Liverpool and a few Italian teams can do.”

“Obviously this Salernitana side are very different from last season. They have a lot more talent. This week they signed two new starters. Give them a few weeks and Salernitana will have a very good side.

“I am pleased. Perhaps one of you will write that Zaniolo and Dybala could have scored two or three goals, but I can only saw that both of them had great games.”