Mourinho: “Dybala plays against Betis. Strange that Smalling is not in the national team “- Forzaroma.info – Latest news As Roma calcio – Interviews, photos and videos

José Mourinhocoach of the Romeanswered journalists’ questions at a press conference on the eve of the Europa League match against Real Betis.

MOURINHO IN PRESS CONFERENCE

How’s Dybala doing? What kind of difficulties do you expect from Betis? “Well, Dybala plays. The difficulty is to play with a team that has quality. We play with a team with a great coach, with a philosophy of its own and with a clear identity. A team that has won and it is not easy to win a competition in Spain if you are not one of the top three teams, with experienced players and national team. It will be a difficult match for them too, it will be eleven against eleven with 60 thousand fans and we hope that they too will do a good job because next week in Seville at the Benito stadium Villamarin their fans play an important role. I trust my eleven, mine on the bench and I trust a lot of our 60 thousand fans. “

Will Zalewski play tomorrow? Does he also see him as a player who can stay behind the strikers? “Zalewski can play several roles. You know his training even better than me and he has turned into a good player. He plays in a high-level national team in this position and he feels good, the team feels comfortable with his characteristics. He is an important player for us if he is on the bench or on the pitch it is very important for us ”.

Is Ferguson’s record a stimulus? “It’s not an extra stimulus. I’m proud of the 106 wins. If 107 comes either tomorrow or next week I will always be proud of my career. I’ve always said this thing is to pass the time when I finish my career, in which I will have so many things to think and remember. Now the most important thing is to win the next game which is of a very high level and is tomorrow. I don’t want to win to break Sir’s record. Alex. I want to win because we need points, we have them only three and they are not enough “.

Can Abraham and Belotti play together? “Good players can play together, it is never a problem. It is for the coaches that you have to find a way to make them play together. To give another example, at the beginning for many of you like those phenomena who speak on the radio and who they never come here it seemed impossible to get Zaniolo, Dybala, Pellegrini and Abraham to play together. Unfortunately at home we didn’t do much of the injuries. But when we deployed them it worked very well. Abraham and Belotti are two good players and we coaches we have to find the right way to make them play together. Tomorrow we need a good Roma and with Belotti and Abraham together it’s not easy. I don’t want to say who plays tomorrow. At this moment Betis has many solutions, with a wealth of players and we do not know if they will make any changes compared to the last league match. I do not know if Iglesias or José plays, or Canales or Fekir and surely the colleague will not say how he will play. I only say what I said before. a difficult game eleven against eleven plus 60 thousand “.

Zaniolo scores more in Europe. “The opponents worry about Zaniolo and he is a player who is not selfish even if he occasionally makes individual decisions for his way of playing, of taking the ball and attacking defenders, but he does not think about himself. He is not a player who saves energy to have it in the decisive phase of finalization. He is a player who works hard for our team and it is normal that he does not score 20 goals in a season. I will never tire of repeating that he is an important player for us and for me if he scores less or more it is not a dramatic situation. If he has scored more in Europe than in Serie A it is because the teams have a higher level than those we find in the Conference and the Europa League. Obviously Leicester and Betis are of the highest level, but certainly in Serie A we have much more complicated matches ”.

How important is winning against Inter at San Siro? “The 4 points we took with Inter and Juventus compared to last year we lost 4 points with Atalanta and Udinese, which we took last year. In this context we have lost nothing and gained nothing. But it is important to get to these points. stadiums and make a result because it’s a different feeling and we talked about it before the game. In the defeat against Atalanta we lost the game but we came out superior. We lost but we were superior, we were not afraid and we played with confidence. Before I put this question on the table of the match against Inter. We can win or lose but we have to leave the stadium with a feeling of superiority, never an inferiority. The players took this with both hands and played an excellent game. These are points that for us bring something more to this level. Mancini is a driver, a player with his voice and is able to say certain phrases at the right moment. or what the kids did. “

How is Pellegrini doing? Does he suffer more on the bench or outside the stadium? “At San Siro I saw the match on a Van, I liked hearing the noise of the stadium, you knew when it was Roma or Inter’s goal. If you suffer more on the Van or on the bench? Worse on the Van. For Pellegrini, let’s see . Sometimes you know that you know more than I do. We still have to hear from him. He knows he is a fundamental game and I know him well. If he says no it is no, if he says yes it means that he is fine and available. confidence is very high and I wait for him. More than the medical department I hear him and his word decides everything for me “.

How do you get to the game? “The game comes after a defeat in the last at home (against Atalanta, ed). But from that defeat we came out with a feeling of superiority. I want this feeling tomorrow as well. They have an advantage, because they have six points and the three of us. I want a stadium full of emotions. ” Despite the friction between the Portuguese and Pellegrini, Mourinho does not spare himself from praising his next opponent. “It will be a difficult game, they have an excellent coach. The Europa League has more competitive teams than the Conference.”

Will Dybala play? “His inclusion was natural. It is natural to have wanted a player like Paulo. It is important that he did not feel the burden of coming here and being an important player. It is all natural, it seems that he has been here for years, it seems that I know him. for years. This naturalness is synonymous with quality. He is a boy of the same level as the player he is. “

Smalling time. “It’s weird that he’s not on the English national team. It’s a weird thing for me. I’m in a privileged position to compare this Smalling with the one I was 4-5 years ago. I don’t know if it’s physical regeneration, if it’s the joy of living here, if it is the joy of playing for Roma. What I know is that he is a player of the highest level. He has a great time and I am very happy with him. “

How is Matic settling in? “This is the third time he has played in a team with me. The first time was ten years ago, obviously he has changed. He has lost something but he also has something more. He is a brain on the pitch, for us it is important.”