Jose Mourinho could not resist a dig at Serie A rivals Juventus after seeing his Roma side secure a crucial 1-0 win at Torino on Saturday.
Paulo Dybala's eighth-minute penalty was enough for the Giallorossi, sending them into third place after Milan and Inter both drew on Friday.
Juve lost 2-1 at Lazio to leave the Bianconeri on 44 points, nine adrift of Mourinho's side, though the former Chelsea and Real Madrid boss is not convinced that will remain the case.
The appeal Juve lodged against their 15-point penalty for transfer fee irregularities will be heard on April 19, meaning the top-four picture could eventually look very different.
Speaking after the win in Turin, Mourinho did not care about the quality of the performance, just the three points, before referencing Juve's situation.
"Matches are won when you score one more goal than your opponent," he told DAZN. "This is the goal not only in football but in sport: you have to win by trying to exploit your qualities and try to hide the problems.
"We are third in the standings? Are we sure that Juve don't have 59 points? We are in Italy."
Since 2004-05, Dybala (11 goals, six assists) is only the second player to score more than 10 goals and record more than five assists in a debut season for Roma in Serie A, after Mohamed Salah in 2015-16.
Roma have nine league games remaining as well as their upcoming Europa League quarter-final against Feyenoord, and Mourinho is hopeful of success on both fronts despite what he sees as squad limitations.
"The opponent that worries me the most in the Champions League fight? Ourselves, the fact that we want to think like a great team but we have a squad with limits," he said.
"We have three games a week and it's hard for us, but I'm not capable of thinking small. We go ahead from game to game.
"I'm not able to say that Udinese is less important than Feyenoord – let's think game by game. Today we didn't score a second goal, otherwise the game would have been completely different."
Carlo Ancelotti plays down form relevance amid ‘special tension’ of Madrid derby
Carlo Ancelotti has stressed that form counts for little amid the “special tension” of a Madrid derby as Real and Atletico prepare to clash at the Metropolitano Stadium on Sunday.
The two sides head into the game on the back of contrasting fortunes, with Ancelotti’s Real having reeled off five straight wins to kick off the LaLiga season as well as getting their Champions League campaign under way with victory over Union Berlin.
Atletico, meanwhile, limp into the game still shellshocked by goalkeeper Ivan Provedel’s late equaliser for Lazio in their midweek Champions League clash, which swiftly followed their 3-0 domestic loss at Valencia last week.
“I think the derby is always a great opportunity, whether you’re in a good moment or a bad one,” said Ancelotti.
“A derby is always a special game. We like to prepare for these games and be the stars. There is a special tension and we’re excited to do all we can to be the stars.”
Ancelotti has named Vinicius Jr in his squad after the Brazilian made a faster than expected recovery from a calf strain sustained in the win over Celta Vigo last month.
The initial prognosis ruled the player out for six weeks but Ancelotti bridled at suggestions that he may have taken an unnecessary risk in naming the winger in his squad ahead of schedule.
“There is zero risk,” Ancelotti insisted. “He trained because there is zero risk. If we think there is one per cent risk, he won’t play. What’s important is that Vinicius has recovered. I’ve told him he will be missing some conditioning after a month out, but we will evaluate it tomorrow.”
There was also encouraging news over in-form England midfielder Jude Bellingham, who has made a full recovery after missing training on Thursday with a minor stomach complaint.
Ancelotti alluded to the midfield riches at his disposal that have helped extend his side’s perfect start, and said his big names should not take it personally if they are subject to rotation or substitution.
“Leaving not only (Toni) Kroos or (Luka) Modric on the bench is hard, and the same for (Federico) Valverde,” added Ancelotti.
“The competition in midfield is strong and the reflection with the team is when we make a change, the player coming off is sad.
“I understand that you come off sad because you think I’m changing you because you’re not playing well. But very often it’s because I have resources and I want to put someone on fresh. I tell them only to be sad if they haven’t given 100 per cent.”
Luis Enrique expects PSG forwards to follow Kylian Mbappe’s lead
Luis Enrique is confident it will not only be Kylian Mbappe boasting impressive stats in the Paris St Germain attack this season.
The opening five matches of PSG’s Ligue 1 campaign have seen them claim eight points and score 10 goals, with seven of those being netted by Mbappe.
The France forward was on the scoresheet once again in Wednesday’s 2-0 Champions League victory over Borussia Dortmund, putting his side ahead with a penalty.
PSG return to league action with Sunday’s Le Classique against Marseille at the Parc des Princes, and when asked at his pre-match press conference if the team were depending too much on Mbappe, boss Enrique said: “That is a great thing to worry about.
“If we have a player like Kylian Mbappe who usually scores 50 goals and gets 25 assists, it would be ridiculous to think that he wouldn’t keep that up.
“We hope he can keep improving, and his team-mates can contribute more in terms of goals and assists, and I think many of the players will have impressive stats.”
In a summer that saw Lionel Messi and Neymar depart the club, PSG’s new signings included the attacking trio Ousmane Dembele, Goncalo Ramos and Randal Kolo Muani, none of whom have scored yet.
Enrique was asked if he was expecting more in the Marseille contest from the latter pair, and said: “I expect a lot from every player.
“We need to be efficient in attack and in defence. We need our defenders to bring the ball forwards to our attackers so they can score goals, and the attackers also need to apply the press.
“What matters is that we achieve our target as a team.”
The champions, after drawing twice, then winning twice, were beaten in their last league outing, 3-2 at home by Nice.
Marseille have parted company with boss Marcelino since their last league match.
The club said a meeting took place on Monday at which “representatives of the supporters’ associations expressed their wish to see the current OM directorate resign”, adding: “The threat of a ‘war’ against them was issued, for as long as they did not resign from their posts.”
OM then released a statement on Wednesday saying: “Olympique de Marseille believes that the events of September 18 do not allow Marcelino and his technical staff to carry out their role under suitable conditions for which they were hired.
“As a result of this regrettable situation, Marcelino and his staff will not continue the job they started at Olympique de Marseille.
“Given the circumstances, the entire club is extremely disappointed to face the departure of a coach and technical staff who arrived in Marseille on June 23 and were fully committed to the club, due to non-sporting reasons.”
OM – who are a point better off than PSG in Ligue 1 – subsequently drew 3-3 with Ajax in the Europa League on Thursday, overseen by Jacques Abardonado.
Celtic overcome Joe Hart red card to beat Livingston
Reo Hatate’s penalty and second-half goals from Matt O’Riley and Daizen Maeda helped Celtic to a 3-0 win at Livingston despite losing Joe Hart to a first-half red card.
The former England goalkeeper fouled Mo Sangare just outside of the penalty box and was sent off by referee John Beaton.
That left Brendan Rodgers’ side to play the final hour with just 10 men but they never looked in any real danger as Livingston failed to take advantage of their numerical supremacy.
Their manager David Martindale had made two changes from the team that had drawn 1-1 with Ross County the previous weekend.
In came Sangare and Scott Pittman, replacing Mikey Devlin and Stephen Kelly.
There was only one change to the Celtic starting line-up from their Champions League loss to Feyenoord and it was a surprising one, James Forrest handed his first start since January as Luis Palma dropped out.
The first chance came for Celtic but Hatate’s low dribbler lacked the power to trouble Shamal George in the home goal.
Livingston replied with a fierce Bruce Anderson drive that Hart did well to parry, with Callum McGregor booting Pittman’s rebound effort off the line.
The opening goal, however, came at the other end after 13 minutes. Luiyi de Lucas needlessly brought down Hatate and Beaton immediately awarded the penalty.
Hatate chose to take it himself and his effort squeezed under George’s body to give Celtic the lead.
The goalkeeper was unfortunate there but proved his worth shortly after as he rushed out to block Maeda’s shot from close range.
The next piece of drama unfolded at the other. Sangare reached James Penrice’s ball ahead of Hart, the goalkeeper bringing him down clumsily on the edge of the box.
Beaton flashed a red card and VAR did not change the decision, reducing Celtic to 10 men for the remaining hour of the match. Forrest was sacrificed to allow Scott Bain to come on.
Penrice took the resultant free-kick but curled it into the side netting before Ayo Obileye had a dig from distance that Bain stopped well.
Livingston began the second half looking to capitalise on their extra man but instead found themselves further behind less than three minutes later.
Maeda failed to turn in Kyogo Furuhashi’s cross from close range but O’Riley helped him out by lashing in the rebound.
Joel Nouble then tried to lob Bain after a mistake by the substitute goalkeeper but his attempt drifted just over the crossbar as Livi failed to mount any kind of response.
Instead there was still time for Celtic to claim a third in injury time with Maeda finishing well from distance.
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