Five Fonseca quotes: Roma boss reacts after beating Genoa

Roma rose into the top four after beating Genoa 3-1 on Sunday, with Henrikh Mkhitaryan scoring a hat-trick.

After scoring his first goal of the season in the midweek Europa League win over CFR Cluj, he got off the mark in Serie A in style.

It proved to be an important result for Roma, as they will head into the international break in the top four.

Thanks to today’s results, #ASRoma end the matchday in the top four of #SerieA for the first time since January. 

We are only three points off top, a gap four points smaller than at this stage last season. 

Roma haven’t been this close to first after this many games since 2014.
— Giallorossi Yorkshire (@RomaYorkshire) November 8, 2020
  

Here’s the best of Paulo Fonseca’s reaction after the game.

On the character shown to retake the lead and see out the win

“It was a win full of character, the team showed a really great attitude. We created a few different chances to score – and Genoa scored from the only mistake we made.”

On Mkhitaryan

“Micki knows how to play in a number of different roles, he’s a really clever footballer. Today he scored three important goals for the team and he worked really hard too – but the important thing is that we won.”

On how Borja Mayoral did in his first Serie A start

“Borja had a decent game, he worked really hard. When we made the change for Bryan Cristante, we moved Lorenzo Pellegrini to the left and that seemed to help us. But the decisions Borja made were almost always the right ones. He missed a chance, but that happens.”

On concentration

“We need to keep our concentration for the entire 90 minutes. After the third goal it was important we defended well, and I think the players all understood that. I’m really pleased with the attitude they showed.”

On the race for a Champions League place

“We need to think about everything on a game-by-game basis. What we want to achieve doesn’t change on the basis of one victory. I’ve already said a few times that we want to do better than we did last season and so, with each game, we are working hard to be better.”

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