In a night that saw him rise above Roma’s struggles, scoring and assisting on Tammy Abraham’s goal, Paulo Dybala exited the Stadio Castellani as the hero of the night.
The Argentine international went in depth about his relationship with Jose Mourinho the Special One’s tactical demands are pushing him to do more for the team.
“Mourinho wanted Tammy and I to play close to each other and press Empoli’s centre-backs,” he told Sky Sport following the match.
“After the goal I disobeyed his orders a bit: they found more space, and so I had to play deeper. It’s something I can do.”
When asked what Roma lack in order to compete with other top teams, Dybala replied, “I said it in the first press conference: we must be calm. There is a great desire to win, we have the best coach in the world and great players at his disposal.”
“We have to be calm, and play to the best of our abilities. We came off two losses and we had to react: this is what great teams do.”
On Zaniolo being on the bench despite his recently dislocated shoulder, “We knew it would be difficult for Nicolò to play this match. It’s more than just mere professionalism: he showed his desire to be with us.”
Finally, on Roma’s ambitions for the season, Dybala reiterated, “I will not specify that we are aiming to win anything in particular, otherwise the headlines tomorrow will read “Roma want to win the Europa League.” As I said before, we have to go slowly and face every game with the right mentality. On Thursday we have to win after last week’s defeat.”
