Jose Mourinho couldn’t resist Serie A rivals Juventus after Roma’s decisive 1-0 victory over Torino on Saturday.
An eighth-minute penalty from Paulo Dybala was enough for the Giallorossi to move into third place after Milan and Inter drew on Friday.
Juventus lost 2-1 to Lazio and left the Bianconeri with 44 points, nine points behind Mourinho’s team, although the former Chelsea and Real Madrid manager is unsure if this will continue .
An appeal filed by Juventus over their 15-point fine for transfer fee violations will be heard on April 19, meaning the top 4 picture could end up looking very different.
Speaking after winning in Turin, Mourinho did not care about the quality of the game, only three points before referring to the situation with Juventus.
“A match is won when you score one more goal than your opponent,” he told DAZN. “This is the goal not only in football but also in sports: you have to win by trying to use your qualities and trying to hide problems.
“Are we third in the standings? Are we sure Juventus don’t have 59 points? We are in Italy.”
2 – Since 2004-05, Paulo #dybala (11 goals, 6 assists) is the second player to score more than 10 goals and provide more than 5 assists in his debut season for the team #ASRoma in one #SeriesA campaign after Mohamed Salah (2015/16). Leader.#TorinoRoma pic.twitter.com/FhfvYDTWx9
— OptaPaolo (@OptaPaolo) April 8, 2023
Since 2004/05, Dybala (11 goals, six assists) is only the second player to score more than 10 goals and more than five assists in his debut season for Roma in Serie A, after Mohamed Salah in 2015/16.
Roma have nine league games left, as well as an upcoming Europa League quarter-final against Feyenoord, and Mourinho is looking to succeed on both fronts despite what he sees as a limited squad.
“The opponent that worries me the most in a Champions League fight? Ourselves, the fact that we want to think like a great team, but we have a squad with limitations,” he said.
“We have three games a week and it’s hard for us, but I can’t think small. We go from game to game.
“I can’t say that Udinese is less important than Feyenoord – let’s think from game to game. We didn’t score the second goal today, otherwise the game would have been completely different.”