In comments after the 1-0 win, on a trip to Sampdoria, Jose Mourinho was very pleased with the result, which put Roma in fourth place in Serie A.

“It is a very important victory, and I think it is well deserved. I am very happy,” he began by declaring the coach, who left full praise for Dejan Stankovic, the Sampdoria coach who was his Inter Milan player between 2008 and 2010: “I am also happy to realize that we will be back here. Then the season, to face a team that I really love, with a coach who looks like a little brother.”

Genoa are at the bottom of the standings, but Mourinho has no doubts about Maimon’s future: “A team that plays like him, fights like that, united, with strength, I have great confidence that he will not fall to Serie B.” And he left a special message for his former player who hugged him before the match started. With tears and a lot of passion in the mix: “A special hug for a special boy.”

About the victory of Rome, the Portuguese declared: “For us, it was very important, because we showed character, spirit, intelligence and heart. There will be those who think differently, but we are used to it. We played with Inter and won because Inter were weak, but then Inter beat Barcelona [em casa] Drawn at Camp Nou. We lost to Atalanta, the cynical Atalanta player, who only hit one shot on target and scored.. It’s hard to take credit for those who work here, but the truth is that with all the problems and limitations we face, the best possible tournament. It is a deserved victory. Perhaps it would have been better if the suffering had been less.”

As for the return of star Nicolo Zaniolo, Mourinho explained: “I knew that throwing him in the last 20-30 minutes of the match would be devastating for the opponent. And it was. All he had to do was score the goal to end the match.”