Mourinho: "A deserved victory"
Posted On Thursday, October 23, 2008 at at 6:38 AM by YOPINTER 2
MILAN - José Mourinho commented on his team's 1-0 victory over Anorthosis Famagusta. He said: "It was hard today, but it's always hard against teams that close down in defence, but you can't say that we didn't create chances.
"Teams always compact in defence when they play away from home in the Champions League, and we saw this yesterday too. We played against a team that has done a fantastic job, but they only started attacking in the 85th minute. This isn't a criticism, it's normal that they planned to play in this way.
"We know that the real Champions League begins after the group stage when there are those twelve or thirteen teams in the running to win it. For now we just have to make as few mistakes as possible."
On the performance of Adriano, who scored for the second Champions League match in a row, Mourinho said: "He's young and he has a fantastic physique. He has to run for ninety minutes. This is his job.
"Quaresma? He likes kicking the ball with the outside of his foot, but if you ask me about him in a few months' time we'll be talking about a different Quaresma.
"We're worried about Cambiasso, but hopefully it's just a slight injury. He's an expert player and he stopped before making things worse. Our problems are in midfield where we're without Vieira and Zanetti who is playing at full-back, but this is our life and we have to continue."
"Teams always compact in defence when they play away from home in the Champions League, and we saw this yesterday too. We played against a team that has done a fantastic job, but they only started attacking in the 85th minute. This isn't a criticism, it's normal that they planned to play in this way.
"We know that the real Champions League begins after the group stage when there are those twelve or thirteen teams in the running to win it. For now we just have to make as few mistakes as possible."
On the performance of Adriano, who scored for the second Champions League match in a row, Mourinho said: "He's young and he has a fantastic physique. He has to run for ninety minutes. This is his job.
"Quaresma? He likes kicking the ball with the outside of his foot, but if you ask me about him in a few months' time we'll be talking about a different Quaresma.
"We're worried about Cambiasso, but hopefully it's just a slight injury. He's an expert player and he stopped before making things worse. Our problems are in midfield where we're without Vieira and Zanetti who is playing at full-back, but this is our life and we have to continue."
