Jose Mourinho was asked to comment on his decision to apply substitutions late in the Derby della Capitale which ended 0-0.
At full-time, Mourinho attended his post-match presser where he discussed various topics including the late subs.
“I knew it was going to be difficult for our wingbacks, Spinazzola and Karsdorp, to play the full 90 minutes. Tonight was an emotionally demanding game for all,” said the Special One. “And therefore it held different requirements.”
“Zalewski was not feeling great either having hardly trained with us in the past few days. We also had Celik and Kristensen.”
“I knew that Bove would have to do a different job today, I had midfielders on the bench who couldn’t come in like Pellegrini. Aouar could come in but he doesn’t have the physical capacity to do Bove’s job. Renato Sanches could come in but it was difficult for him to come in in a physical and demanding match like today’s.”
“When you have Dybala and Lukaku, you always think it’s difficult to improve, you can bring in a little more freshness and quality, the tendency is to leave them on the pitch. We changed Dybala for Azmoun, but we weren’t sure we could improve anything in the final minutes of the game.”
“Let’s be honest, Lazio hit the post and Rui Patricio made an extraordinary save, but I felt that we were in control of the match, and we could have won. Only at one moment did I think of crying, when we had the ball and gave away a corner. If we had conceded a goal then, I would have cried on the pitch.”
