Mourinho: "Tremendously proud of my players"

Tell us about that moment with the Curva at the end. What did you say to your players?

“I simply said that I felt tremendously proud of them and I thanked them for their efforts. The efforts put in by those who were tired and those who played with one leg or with a fractured rib and a local injection so they didn't feel too much pain. I thanked the kids who train with us and who did their bit. And of course I thanked the crowd as they were absolutely incredible. What the lads have managed to create here is fantastic. You know me and you know I always find defeats tough to take, but I can honestly say that I'll go home tonight immensely proud of these lads. Tomorrow they'll finally get a day off. I'll be at the Tre Fontane with the Primavera kids and then on Thursday we'll be back here.”

Are you optimistic about this two-legged European tie? Will you get anyone back?

 “I'm not optimistic about getting anyone back. I'm optimistic because of my players. Today we played against the strongest team in Italy, against a team in the Champions League semi-finals. We have five or six players who are totally knackered because they play all time: [Gianluca] Mancini, [Bryan] Cristante, Lorenzo [Pellegrini]... Those guys are dead tired. Then we have injured players like Paulo [Dybala] and [Andrea] Belotti and the kids. When I look at [Edoardo] Bove, I think about the fact that when I joined he was due to go on loan to Triestina, I think, and today he put in the performance he did against Inter. Result aside, I have reasons to be very happy. Then there are things that happened during the game that if the club want to talk about then they should and if they don't then I'm not going to. Also because I've been attacked on moral grounds. However, that actually gives me a bit of joy because it was by a person who was banned for three years for betting in football. And being attacked morally by someone like that gives me great pleasure.”