Roma coach Jose Mourinho was delighted with his players after their stunning 4-1 Europa League win over Feyenoord.
Roma appeared out before a late fight-back sparked by Dybala’s goal from the bench.
Stephan El Shaarawy and Lorenzo Pellegrini then struck in extra-time for the victory.
“Maybe someone thinks differently, but in my view the team played very well in a difficult match to deal with. The situation around Dybala playing, not playing, that didn’t help us prepare. The injury to Wijnaldum didn’t help us, as we had to use up a substitution,” Mourinho told Sky Italia.
“It was very, very difficult, but with concentration, courage and intelligence, to attack when it was time to attack, defend when we needed to against a very good Feyenoord side, I believe we were superior.
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“No, now you know why my hair is so white! The other coach is bald, I’ve got white hair. It’s because I’ve had 150-odd European matches, I’ve seen everything. I told the players yesterday, this would be different to RB Salzburg or Bodo/Glimt. It wasn’t one we would kill off straight away. I told them if it is 1-0 at the 90th minute, that’s perfect, the important thing is to keep focused.
“Losing Wijnaldum really made me have big problems. When I introduced Dybala, I had to do the other two simultaneously, as otherwise we wouldn’t have an insurance slot left in case Dybala couldn’t continue. We managed to wait until extra time, which gave us another slot for the substitution.
“I am the coach, but the players are the ones who work on the pitch and sacrifice themselves. They deserve the credit.”