Roma coach Jose Mourinho praised Lecce after Saturday’s 1-1 draw.
Paulo Dybala’s penalty canceled out Lecce’s early opener from Federico Baschirotto’s header that was then credited as a Roger Ibanez own goal.
“It was a difficult game, a tough game. Obviously, you can see from our attitude and frustration in the final minutes that it is not the result we wanted. On the other hand, I will say with all honesty it was an intense, tough match. The pitch was horrible, there were huge problems playing one-touch football, it bounced strangely, it was hard to play quality football,” Mourinho told DAZN.
“Lecce are difficult, we had the chances to score a second goal and when you get that second against a team like this, it can open the door to more.
“I have nothing negative to say to my players, on an individual or collective level. I won’t say it is two points dropped, because we have one more point than we did when we arrived here.
“The last thing I say to my players is accuse them of individual errors. The Lecce goalkeeper made some remarkable saves, this is the kind of game where you’re not going to have 10 scoring opportunities. If you get five or six, you need to convert two.
“Lecce deserve credit, as they are so aggressive, win back the ball and click into the transition straight away, they never let their opponents relax for a moment. I expected it to be difficult, obviously we wanted to win, but I was by no means upset with the performance.
“A few years ago, Roma would’ve lost a match like this that was all about aggression and determination, so this shows definite progress. Sometimes coaches with more quality to draw on are insulting towards teams who focus on aggression, but that is not me, I credit them for their approach.”
