José Mourinho, manager of Italian club AS Roma, spoke about the next fixture that will see his side host AC Milan, valid for matchday 11 of the Serie A.
In the press conference, the experienced Portuguese tactician said the following about facing Pioli's Rossoneri team:
"I like playing against the best teams. I think I convey to the players this feeling of facing higher-ranked teams with different goals from ours. When I was in Italy, Pioli was not coaching in Serie A. Tomorrow I will have the opportunity of meeting him before and after the match. His work has something similar to what I have to do here. He has many qualities. But it seems to me that we are talking about a work of the management. Behind Pioli, there are people like, to give an example, Paolo Maldini and there is a stable structure, a squad that improves in every window of market, an evolution of the club."
On his players:
"I can't select everyone. Mkhitaryan is doing well. He played against Napoli and Cagliari. For me, using someone as a starter or from the bench does not matter to me. Mkhitaryan is very loyal. We would like to score more, and if possible suffer less. To win you have to be balanced. It's a cliché: to win you have to score and defend well. Defensive organization is important and I think we are improving."
Mourinho continued:
"Spinazzola is doing well and the rehabilitation process is going well. Whoever operated on him was here for two days and there are no steps backwards. This thing of saying when he will play or not, I prefer not to do it."
On seeking a win against Milan:
"The victory always serves well, not just against AC Milan. Against Napoli, we saw a team that wanted to win until the last minute. Nothing changes whether we play Milan or Venezia. This is something that brings people to the stadium: even after the defeat against Juventus and Lazio, or after Bodo's shame, supporters did come to the stadium."
"It is difficult to have control of the game for 90 minutes, there is always a moment when the opponent comes out. Milan have Ibra and Giroud who are very difficult to mark. Goals conceded at the start of the second half? You see only the negative. It would be more frustrating for me to go out on the pitch and score goals in the first 5 minutes. I begin to understand why the Roman environment is difficult."
