Mourinho: This Roma always gives everything

Read what Jose Mourinho had to say following Thursday night's 1-0 win over Genoa in the Coppa Italia...

The Giallorossi reached the quarter-finals of the competition thanks to Paulo Dybala's brilliant second half strike.

Roma’s desire to play the game on their terms tonight was pretty evident. Perhaps it was tough going for a while though, at least until Paulo Dybala’s turned on the lights…

“The team always gives its best and that’s why I have a lot of affection for my boys. I learned as a kid – and I’m no kid now, in a few weeks I will be 60 – that, whenever you give your all no-one can ask anything more of you.

“Of course after that you can play well, really well or not very well at all, but as long as you give your best…

“Any player that gives his best always has my affection. That’s why the only thing I didn’t like were the few whistles at Nicolo Zaniolo.

“However, when you have someone who takes a wage from Roma and, in front of a microphone, decides to criticise a player, then that opens the door [to whistling] – because obviously the fans know that the person has a history with the club. My history [with the club] is small but perhaps the fans will listen to me: please, do not whistle my players, because they are giving everything they have. They don’t have anything more to give so they can’t give anything more.”

Going back to the game, I made mention of Dybala’s spark – which came after Lorenzo Pellegrini experienced a few issues. Can you give us an update on him?

“Lorenzo has a few issues, we’ll have to see how he is tomorrow. Obviously I wanted to rest both of them, but Alberto [Genoa coach Alberto Gilardino] gifted me a tough match tonight. So then when Lorenzo picked up a knock I wanted to do everything possible to avoid extra-time.

“I could have put on one of the young lads – Volpato, Tahirovic – but I decided to put on Paulo. And these are the players that make the coaches look good. There are good coaches out there because they have good players. Obviously it’s about teamwork, obviously we had control of the game throughout and the three at the back gave us a real sense of security, but Paulo is something else: he has a different air to him.”

What did you make of the scenes on the motorway between Roma and Napoli fans?

“I am a coach and I coach – and according to one or two I do that badly. But I am a coach.”

The General Manager has said that you have everything you need to push for the Champions League places. Do you agree?

“The coach is the coach. It does not seem to me that the coach should be commenting on what a director has said. Whether or not I agree, I shouldn’t comment publicly.”

You have not spoken to the media for about two months. Are you happy at the moment?

“Whether I'm happy or less than happy, I always give my best. That is what is important, what is most important to the Roma fans, to the sporting director, to the ownership. If I haven’t spoken for two months it was because I was suspended for two matches, and I never speak when I am suspended. Today I was in a position to speak and I have spoken.

“I will take advantage of that to thank the president of Portuguese Football Association; what he said to me made me very proud. Portugal is my country and he told me that he would have done everything possible to get me, that I was not just his first choice but his only choice.

“But I am here, and I will give everything for Roma.”