Roma coach Jose Mourinho hailed the manner of their 1-0 win at Sampdoria.

Henrikh Mkhitaryan struck the only goal of the game.

“It was a difficult match, it's tough to play here, Marco Giampaolo's sides always have a clear philosophy," Mourinho told DAZN.

“The culture in Rome is that if you win the derby, you go into Paradise, if you lose it's a total disaster, but we managed to keep our feet on the ground, focus on this game and get the victory.

“If it had been a different coach, people would be talking about our goal as fantastic football, building out from the back, but they won't do that with me!

“We controlled the situation well, but could've scored a second goal and killed off the game. I don't think we were distracted by Thursday, it's that Samp changed their system in the second half, providing more width and making it difficult for us to press them."

He added, "Mkhitaryan is having a great season. I want Mikhi here, Mikhi wants to stay here, Tiago Pinto and the club want him to stay, Mino Raiola loves his client, so it should be fine."