Jose Mourinho said his side are becoming less naive after Roma won the first leg of their Europa Conference League last-16 tie with Vitesse 1-0.
Sergio Oliveira scored the only goal of a game in which he was also later sent off.
For Roma, it is the third consecutive 1-0 win across all competitions, prompting a feeling from Mourinho that his players are learning to follow the strategy he has been trying to implement.
Here’s what the manager made of it all (via asroma.com).
On adapting to the surface
“It was difficult to really play and to feel confident on the ball. In the second half though we did a better job of controlling the game.”
On seeing the game out
“In the second half I never felt like we were going to concede. I was very confident they would not score.”
On Roma becoming more pragmatic
“The side has a better idea now of when to play and when to be a bit more pragmatic about things. We have managed to shed that habit of being a bit naïve. Even during the difficult moments today the team found a way to respond positively.”
On Sergio Oliveira as a regista
“When you don’t have a proper ‘regista’ you have to try out different dynamics. Today we weren’t really able to keep control of the ball, although in the second half we did a bit better.”
On player availability
“Now, perhaps, for the first time we have a bit more stability as far as injuries go, with Leonardo Spinazzola the only one still out. Against Udinese we won’t have [Henrikh] Mkhitaryan and [Marash] Kumbulla – and against Vitesse we won’t have Sergio and [Gianluca] Mancini now – but we have a few different options to respond to that.”
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