Jose Mourinho was on classic form after Roma's Europa League win with comments on Bayern Munich's squad compared to his

Jose Mourinho has lamented the strength in depth enjoyed by Europe's top clubs after his Roma side earned an impressive win on Thursday.

Roma secured a 2-0 win in the first leg of their Europa League last-16 tie against Real Sociedad, and look well-placed to qualify for the quarter-finals.

Goals from Stephan El Shaarawy and Marash Kumbulla downed the Spaniards, keeping Roma on track for European glory for a second successive season.

Last season's Europa Conference League champions might be faring well in Europe but at home they have endured a mixed season.

Roma currently sit fourth in the Serie A standings, but trail league leaders Napoli by 18 points. Although they have been solid in defence, at the other end of the pitch they have struggled to score goals.

Mourinho's side have scored just 32 goals in 25 league games, the lowest tally in the top seven.

Tammy Abraham's second-season struggles in Rome are partly to blame; the English striker scored 27 goals in all competitions last season but this term has managed just seven.

This season Mourinho has had to experiment with playing midfielders and wingers in unfamiliar striking roles. On Thursday night following his side's win, he was in jovial spirit with reporters in his post-match press conference and joked he wished his squad had the depth of quality of others playing in Europe.

"We only had one striker on the bench. Solbakken wasn't even there," Mourinho explained.

Mourinho being sent off against Torino earlier in the season. Image: Alamy

"In the second half, I remembered yesterday's [Wednesday] match in which Bayern [Munich] had [Serge] Gnabry, [Sadio] Mané and [Leroy] Sane on the bench - just one of them would be enough for me.

"Like this, I could have replaced Dybala and perhaps score one more goal. El Shaarawy also plays behind and it's hard for him. The boys are fantastic."

While Mourinho is right to highlight the inequality between clubs playing in European competitions, nobody is going to be getting their tiny violins out for him.

The 60-year-old has coached Chelsea, Inter Milan, Real Madrid, Manchester United and Tottenham over a long and illustrious career. He wasn't exactly short of quality attacking players at any of those clubs.

Jose seems to have become a whole lot more likeable this season but it's still a bit rich for him to moan about elite teams hoarding talent. His Chelsea side were certainly no strangers to that.

Topics: Jose Mourinho, AS Roma, Europa League, Serie A, Bayern Munich, Tammy Abraham, Paulo Dybala

Alex Brotherton

Alex Brotherton is a Sports Trends Writer at SPORTbible. He has previously worked with publications including the Manchester Evening News, GOAL and BBC Sport. He is a football fanatic, but also dabbles in tennis and American football. He enjoys running, cooking and watching non-league football.

@alex_brotherton