Roma maintained their unbeaten run with a 1-1 draw against Napoli on Easter Monday thanks to a late equaliser from Stephan El Shaarawy.
Jose Mourinho’s men had fallen behind to a Lorenzo Insigne penalty in the first half, but had a few chances to get back into it. One finally paid off as the clock ticked over into stoppage time, when El Shaarawy finished off an attack with a finish at the near-post.
The draw means Roma remain fifth in Serie A, two points above a Fiorentina side who have a game in hand.
A win would have been more useful for Roma, who had more possession and more shots on target, but a draw away against a title challenger is not a bad result in itself.
Here’s what the manager thought of it.
On his celebrations at the end
“I celebrated because during the game it felt to me like it was going to be impossible to leave here with a positive result. Not because my side were not playing well, because we played really well and actually got better as the game went on. But I always had the feeling it was going to be very, very difficult – and, I would say, impossible – to finish with a positive result. So that’s why I celebrated the equaliser.”
On Roma’s character
“I think that my team were great. After Thursday’s game, the game today felt like Everest. But my team were great; quality, character, mental and physical strength on display. We wanted even more from the game, but we have come away with what we could.”
On how Roma got better after Henrikh Mkhitaryan came on
“That’s why he has been playing every minute of every game. Looking at all the absences we have had, he has been a player who has never been suspended, never been injured and so has played every game. We thought that perhaps in the second half he could do something different for us, but have him play another 90 minutes, running 12.5 kilometres as he does every time, would have been tough for him and us.”
On what the referee got wrong
“How many do you want me to give you? Two? Three? More than that? Okay, I will give you three. The red card for [Alessandro] Zanoli. In the first half there was a yellow, it would have been a yellow anywhere else in the world, and then in the second half he should have had another. Then, there was a penalty for [Nicolo] Zaniolo that was not given. Because, yes, the goalkeeper makes the save – but then after that the ball is loose and Zaniolo was there to potentially put in the rebound, but he gets contact from the goalkeeper. Nothing. There were more. Many more.”
On competing with top teams
“I want us to have the right to play. Unfortunately we were not good enough during the early formation phase of this team and we cannot be fighting for the title now. But we want to be able to fight to win games like this. I want to have the right, on Saturday [against Inter], to win that game.”
The Team isnow solid and all they need is to keep the momentum.