Mourinho explained how pressing and El Shaarawy helped Roma defeat Slavia

Roma head coach Jose Mourinho commented on the victory over Slavia (2:0) in the Europa League.

“It doesn’t happen often to score in the first minute, but it came from a very good press, El Shaarawy found Edoardo and he has a great shot. It was important for us, as it put the game on the right track straight away and made it a different proposition than it might’ve been.

“We understood Slavia Prague are a strong team on the ball. If you give them time and space to pass it around, they cause you problems. We thought that pressing them was both a way of stopping them from gaining momentum, but also to create our chances on the counter-attack.

“The energy and intensity levels dropped in the second half. There are some players who have been out for a long time and that means the others have to play all the time. If you look at guys like Mancini, Cristante, Ndicka, Lukaku, they play practically every minute and inevitably the intensity level drops.

“Slavia had more of the ball in the second half, but they always seemed under control.”

“El Shaarawy can play anywhere. He is a very useful player for us, he can play as a wing-back, a winger, a second striker, and that is very important for us in a squad that has many limitations and players who are our injured. Slavia expected us to use Belotti and Lukaku together too, but their wing-back on the right opens up wide, so we thought it was better to have El Shaarawy against him,” explained Mourinho.