Roma beat Lazio 3-0 on Sunday evening. Tammy Abraham scored twice as captain Lorenzo Pellegrini added the third in the first half.
Here's what Jose Mourinho had to say after the game...
Today was perhaps your best performance of the season…
“A great performance. The win over Atalanta here at the Olimpico was a very solid display too, albeit with a different scoreline to tonight. But the team knew in that game exactly what they needed to do.
“Today was truly special, because it seemed like the players were able to execute everything we had planned out there on the pitch. Full credit to them.
“All the credit to them, extra credit, even, because in the second half they were playing against a side who were desperate to turn things around and playing with the sort of pride you expect to see from any team playing in the derby. But, despite that, we were always in control. I don’t think there is any doubt that we fully deserved the win.”
At the end of the first half you seemed to get a bit angry with some of the fans – what happened there?
“I don’t really like the ‘Oles’ and I don’t like it when players take it the wrong way. I don’t like them at the end of a game, much less in the 43rd minutes. And I don’t like it when the players interpret them as meaning the game is over or it has become a show. And, indeed, after they started Ibanez lost a ball that could have given Immobile a chance on goal.
“Respect is a really beautiful thing. You play to win – to score four or five if you can – but you should always show respect to the opponent.”
What more can you say about Tammy Abraham?
“When you all said that Abraham is fantastic I did not agree, because I know the potential he has and I know that he is capable of what he did today.
“And I’m not just talking about the two goals, but I’m talking about how he played, how he pressed, how he won the ball back. Because, for example, against Vitesse he didn’t do that as much.
“I demand a lot of Tammy because I know his potential. Today is what Tammy is capable of and he needs to keep playing like this. I don’t mean the goals, because you can score one day and miss another, but he needs to have the attitude he showed today in every game.”
What can you say about the remainder of the season for Roma?
“In the league it seems clear to me that the top four are going to qualify for the Champions League. I can’t see any of those four dropping down to fifth. Then, after that, there are four other teams fighting to finish between there and eighth: us, Atalanta, Lazio and Fiorentina. Four teams that are playing well and starting to show improvements, albeit not quite the same as the top four.
“Finishing fifth or eighth would be two very different things, let’s see if we can finish the season well.”
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Source: legaseriea.it