Roma found themselves on the wrong end of a 1-0 scoreline against Juventus in a keenly-contested Serie A battle at the Allianz Stadium. Despite suffering his third league defeat of the season, the Giallorossi boss Jose Mourinho believes his side deserved to walk away with all three points.
Moise Kean, who returned to Juventus on the deadline day to replace departed Cristiano Ronaldo, scored what eventually turned out a winning goal 16 minutes into the game. The Italian prodigy redirected Rodrigo Bentancur’s header to take his Serie A tally to two goals this season and give Juventus an all-important victory.
Things could have been different if Jordan Veretout managed to convert a 42nd-minute penalty kick. After stealing the ball away from Tammy Abraham, Roma’s designated penalty taker failed to beat Wojciech Szczesny from the spot. It was the France international’s first spot-kick miss for the Giallorossi.
Despite ending up on the losing side, Roma looked to be on the front foot for most of the game, with Juventus dropping deep to defend a slender lead. Apart from Kean’s deadlock-breaker, Massimiliano Allegri’s team struggled to produce anything meaningful in the final third. The hosts instead tried to endlessly keep possession and hold the Rome-based outfit at bay.
Juventus’ defensive-minded approach eventually paid the dividends as they’ve managed to stretch their winning Serie A run to four matches. After a dreadful start to the season, the Bianconeri have hit the ground running and are currently only one point adrift of fourth-placed Giallorossi.
Meanwhile, Roma’s early momentum is slowly fading away on the back of three straight Serie A defeats away from home. However, Mourinho, who heaped praise on the visitors’ display on Sunday night, feels his side deserved more in Turin.
“I can only say I saw a great Roma today. That’s what I told my players in the locker room,” he told DAZN, as cited by TUTTOmercatoWEB.
“Obviously, we are talking about a defeat and zero points, but all I can say is that was a great Roma in every respect. Congratulations for the organization, the hard work, those who played despite some physical difficulties, missing players through international duty.
“I saw courage, confidence, belief. Obviously, the defeat will always be a defeat, but if I look at the project, that means looking at the growth of the team over time.
“I might see it differently to you, but I saw the team that deserved to win ended up losing. That is football.“