Mourinho: "It went to plan. All credit to the lads"

Before today Real Sociedad had won all their away games in Europe, but today they only had one shot on goal...

“They kept the ball well and caused problems for us. The lads deserve credit for their organisation, their efforts and their chemistry on the pitch, helping each other when they needed it. It's very difficult to play against a diamond formation and we've had experience of it before, against Empoli and Salzburg. It wasn't new to us but it is hard. You need to be mentally strong when you don't have the ball. We controlled the game, including at times when we didn't have the ball, and we ended up getting the second goal, which could make all the difference. At 2-0 we only needed to manage the game to ensure the scoreline remained the same.”

How much work is there behind Roma's formidable home form in 2023, with seven wins from seven matches?

“It's all down to the team. You can point to the goalkeeper's saves, or to the fantastic job done by the centre-backs, but I don't know of any team that can defend well unless they defend as a team. You can have the best goalkeeper and the best defender in the world but if you don't defend as a team, you're always going to struggle. And when I look at my team, from Rui [Patricio] through to [Paulo] Dybala, I can say that they all work their socks off. Honestly the way Paulo went about his defensive duties, which is his weakness, says it all. They all want to do really well and they all know their weaknesses, and we do have weaknesses, but we turn our weaknesses into strengths. I want to congratulate my players because they deserve all the credit. However, a 2-0 win is only good if we don't lose by three goals at their place. I always refuse to say that a result is good after the first leg because it's not if we then go and lose 3-0.”

You said it's hard to play against a diamond but you prepared for it well because for a diamond formation it's hard to close down wing-backs and when players hold a wide position like Dybala. The first goal was a fabulous move: you started in your own area, Dybala went out wide, Tammy Abraham's movement was perfect and Stephan El Shaarawy ran 80 metres to finish off the move and give you the lead. I don't know how often you've seen a move like that...

“I saw one yesterday! We went with two fresh wing-backs and they both played really well. Stephan has a knack for goals, he was fresh and had a full tank to give us, and he went and scored. I don't like saying things like this but we prepared that move. Honestly I don't like playing against a diamond from a defensive point of view, but attacking-wise I do. In the second half we had less of the ball, but we prepared well for how to use the ball and cause them problems and it came off for us. I'm pleased with the lads' performance. I couldn't ask for anything more. As I said, 2-0 is only good if we don't lose 3-0, or 2-0. But next week is a dangerous week because we're going to accumulate fatigue and then we have to play Lazio – and playing Lazio is like playing Milan or Juve. It's the same thing. That's one of the dangers of this city. We'll have to go to San Sebastian knowing that it will be a very difficult game and not thinking about the fact that two days later we'll be facing Lazio.”

All your wide players are performing well at the moment. You've got Rick Karsdorp back and he started the counter-attack that led to the opener. Leonardo Spinazzola goes past his man every time. But you chose El Shaarawy. Was that the plan? To let them move the ball around and then strike their high defensive line. Besides being fresh, did El Shaarawy start for tactical reasons?

“It was tactical reasons too. But it wasn't an easy decision to make because we don't have many forwards on the bench – just one. We didn't even have [Ola] Solbakken as he's not on the UEFA list. In the second part of the game, I remembered yesterday's match between PSG and Bayern Munich. Bayern had [Serge] Gnabry, [Sadio] Mane, [Leroy] Sane on the bench. I wouldn't have wanted all three of them – one would have been enough. If I'd had one and I'd been able to bring him on for Dybala in the last 15 minutes, we might have won by a bigger margin. That's why Stephan starts on the bench sometimes – because I need more options up front. When he starts at wing-back, he gets tired of course and I can't ask him to play in attack for the last 20 minutes, providing cover, pressing and making runs in behind. It's hard. But his mentality is superb.

“Now we have Sassuolo and we have two matches to play while [Alessio] Dionisi is relaxing at home with his sparkling water, watching the match with his players...”

Will it be difficult to reproduce this sort of performance away from the Olimpico? Is the home crowd a factor?

“When the crowd want to play, they do play. Against Juve they produced a fantastic performance, against Salzburg too and again today. When this stadium wants to play, it's more than just beautiful. Because you can be beautiful and not do anything. When I'm in the dugout caught up in the pressure of the match, I love seeing the crowd because it's beautiful to see, but when they play with us they really do help. And we're going to need their help on Sunday because some of the lads will be running on empty and we'll need a great crowd to help us along.”