Mourinho explains fundamental difference between Roma and Atalanta

welcome

to the Gewiss Stadium on Saturday afternoon as they are seeking their seventh consecutive victory in Serie A.

When questioned about the wildly different approaches to football adopted by

Mourinho

, a defensive and counter-attack expert, and

Gasperini

, a possession-based attack-minded coach, the Portuguese coach seemed irritated.

“There is a fundamental difference between me and Gasperini: he has been working at Atalanta for six years, I’ve been at Roma for six months,”

replied Mou in his press conference

.

“That doesn’t just mean many training sessions, but also 12 transfer windows against one. Atalanta are a fantastic club, very stable, I knew them as a mid-table team, but now they are regularly in the Champions League and challenging to win the Scudetto.

“We are under new owners who in my view are doing a fantastic job, having been forced to do reactive work on the transfer market this summer. I spent many years at clubs with a totally different mentality, all about today and not building for tomorrow.

“There is a significant difference between the two clubs, but there is also one thing I have no doubts on: we can win. Football is football and we have talented players, a fantastic team spirit and we are going there looking to win.

“If you ask me to stay home if I am guaranteed a draw in Bergamo, I won’t accept it. I want to challenge myself against Atalanta, with respect and admiration for their work.”

Mourinho was asked if Roma's goal this season is to finish in the top four or to qualify for the Europa League.

“When an objective is in the long-term, empathy is fundamental. You cannot live with someone for four, five or six years without empathy. You might live with them for a year, get the result and then leave, but here we feel this fantastic atmosphere and it gives us all an enormous sense of calm around the project.”

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