Mourinho: "Our goal is to win tomorrow and go through to the next round"

Here is everything the boss had to say during his pre-match press conference...

What do you remember from your previous trips to Salzburg? You came here once as Bobby Robson's assistant and another time to collect an award.

“I remember everything. The first time we lost the game, were knocked out and then got sacked, so of course I'm going to remember it. Memories can be bad as well, not always good.

“The second time was amazing. It was an important award. My family and I spent two or three days visiting the city, which needs no commenting. It's a beautiful city.”

What sort of team are you expecting Salzburg to be? Do you think they're similar to any current Serie A sides?

“If we're talking about attitude and football philosophy, I don't think there are any similar teams in Serie A. We've analysed our opponents of course. We've watched the Austrian league but you only need to look at how they fared in the Champions League, against three quality teams.

“I think their strength lies in the quality of their players. If you want to know where to find good young players, you needn't look far. Look at Red Bull Salzburg and you'll find top-quality players. And if you look at their ages, they're young - which doesn't mean inexperienced. They have lads in the squad who have 15-20 Champions League matches behind them. They have quality.”

Roma are in the running for two big targets: a Champions League spot in Serie A, and the Europa League. Is tomorrow's match or the one against Verona more important?

“The next one. Tomorrow is more important.”

Is there a chance you might pick the same team for the third game in a row tomorrow? How are you approaching this competition?

“When I referred to certain teams as 'sharks', I meant the teams that are built to win the Champions League and are now in the Europa League, like Barcelona, Manchester United, Juventus. They don't set out to win the Europa League but the Champions League. Last year we were a bigger fish in the Conference League and we had the sort of pressure they now have in this competition. Red Bull aren't a team that sets out to win the Champions League but to compete in it. They got some great results at some big grounds.

“Our goal is to win tomorrow. I'm not looking beyond that. It will be very difficult but that's our goal. We're not looking any further. There are 24 teams in the running and there's a long, long way to go. We want to go through to the next round.

“As for our line-up, if we make any changes, it will be one or two, not more.”

Is Tammy Abraham one of those who might be rotated tomorrow? Could Georginio Wijnaldum start the game?

“Gini won't start tomorrow. We'll see if the game allows us to give him a few minutes like against Lecce. He's fine to train and his data is good but a real match is played at a different tempo. All of our games are real games till the last minute. We're not able to get the result in the bag midway through the first half. Abraham won't be rested. He'll play.”

What's the current situation with Rick Karsdorp?

“He's been included in the squad today for the first time. He wasn't in good enough physical condition to be included before now. As for how things are between us, there has been no problem since December. The problem arose against Sassuolo because of the player's attitude on the bench and when he came on, which I didn't like. Then I went a bit overboard with my choice of words. After that period, the media thought it was over between us but it wasn't. We've always has a good relationship. As he's said, there were various lies. Lots of people stuck their oar in without knowing the facts – and I'm not referring to you journalists.

“I'm happy he's back. He's an extra option for us. Having Rick available means [Nicola] Zalewski doesn't have to play on the right and [Stephan] El Shaarawy doesn't necessarily have to play wing-back and can play further forward. It''s a big help in terms of our squad management.

“Him saying, 'I want to play for Roma,' 'I want to help the team and my team-mates' is very important. Rick has always been on good terms with the rest of the team. He's well liked. I'm happy to have him and he's important for all of us.”