Mourinho was hailed as a genius after the victory over Juventus
"Only a fool or a genius would play Juventus the way Mourinho did," wrote Corriere dello Sport. "With the tactics he used, if you win, everyone will call you a genius. But if you lose, you will be called an idiot for at least a week."
On the Olimpico field on March 5, Roma succeeded with Mourinho's familiar thorny and pragmatic play. They only had 40% possession, passed 390 passes, shot twice with two shots on target. This parameter of Juventus is 60%, 564 passes, 14 shots with five on target, respectively.
But Roma were more effective when scoring the only goal early in the second half. Receiving the ball from Bryan Cristante, centre-back Gianluca Mancini aligns a beat and then finishes from 25 meters away to send the ball diagonally, out of reach of goalkeeper Wojciech Szczesny.
Corriere dello Sport was surprised by the arrangement of Mourinho's starting lineup, when he arranged Lorenzo Pellegrini and Georgino Wijnaldum to support the striker Paulo Dybala in a 3-4-2-1 formation. According to Zazzaroni, the Portuguese coach kept the same squad at the beginning of the second half, did not give up on the original idea and proved these options to be correct with Mancini's decisive goal.
Also according to Corriere dello Sport, Mourinho launched two strikers Tammy Abraham and Andrea Belotti at the end of the game to wait for counter-attacks, thereby reducing pressure on the defense. But the Italian newspaper also admitted that Mourinho and Roma were lucky to get three important points because Juventus were denied goals three times by the wooden frame.
Football Italy page highly appreciates Roma's defensive ability at home. The army under Mourinho has only conceded five goals in 12 Serie A matches at the Olimpico this season, an achievement only inferior to Barca in the top five European leagues. Xavi's teachers and students only conceded one goal in 12 matches at Camp Nou in La Liga.
In third place is Inter with six goals conceded in 13 Serie A matches at Giuseppe Meazza. Torino, Bayern Munich, Union Berlin, Real Madrid, Chelsea, Man Utd United and Newcastle have all conceded eight times at home this season. The English Premier League clubs play 12 matches at home, while the representatives of the Bundesliga, Torino and Real have only played 11 matches.
However, after the victory over Juventus, Mourinho emphasized that Roma won because the players gave 100% of their energy, not because of his tactical choices. The Portuguese coach also denied that Roma dominated the top 4 race and wanted to focus on each match, starting with the welcome of Real Sociedad in the 1/8 round of the Europa League on March 9.
