Jose Mourinho has lavished praise on Paulo Dybala after the AS Roma star notched a last-gasp goal against Feyenoord to rescue the Italian giants and send them into the Europa League semi-finals.
The Serie A outfit were trailing 1-0 heading into Thursday night's second leg before Leonardo Spinazzola levelled the tie on aggregate. However, they had to battle back again after Igor Paixao nudged Feyenoord back into the lead in the dying embers of the match.
With less than 10 minutes to save their European dream, Mourinho's side rallied again: Dybala bagged an equaliser in the last moments of the match to force extra-time, where Stephan El Shaarawy and Lorenzo Pellegrini goals finished the job for last season's Europa Conference League winners.
Mourinho is just three games away from winning back to back European trophies after last year's triumph - and the former Manchester United and Chelsea coach was quick to praise Dybala, who was linked with a host of clubs after falling out of favour at Juventus.
The Italian forward has enjoyed somewhat of a renaissance this year after registering 24 goal contributions (16 goals, eight assists) in all competitions and Mourinho believes he is reaping the rewards of his decision move to Rome. Speaking after Thursday night's frenetic finale, Mourinho said: “Now you see why my hair is this white! With 150 European games, I've seen everything. I'm in a phase of my career where the players are more important than myself.”
The Portuguese icon added: “My sensation is that [Dybala] was seeking the joy he had lost more than confidence. He found it here, with a squad that understands him, a coach that loves him, a position on the field with players like Pellegrini, Cristante and Mancini he has strong characters around him in leadership roles.
“Dybala is a nice boy. He has the quality to play for the biggest clubs in the world, but he has found joy here. I gave him absolute freedom to come on tonight and he could come off even two minutes later if he didn’t feel up to it, but he played 30 minutes of extra time and 25 minutes regular, and he finished on a high.”
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Dybala returned the compliment after the match where he credited Mourinho's "incredible mentality" as the driving force behind Roma's Europa League bid.
“I think everyone knows Mourinho, his history, what he’s done in Europe and at every club he worked at I think he won something. His mentality fuels you. He knew the game could end up like this and pushed us to give something more,” he told Sky Sport Italia.
“He changed the tactical system, we started playing better and dominated extra time for a deserved victory. I think we all want to win, which is the most important thing. We have a coach with an incredible mentality.
“He told us the game would be like that and he was absolutely right. This squad won the Conference League last season, so they know what it takes to win. Now we hope to go all the way in the Europa League too.”
