According to Jose Mourinho, Paulo Dybala’s excellent performances for Roma bode well for Argentina as the 2022 World Cup approaches.
Dybala’s two goals against Monza on Tuesday, his first for Roma, propelled the Giallorossi to the top of Serie A with a 3-0 victory.
The forward, who joined Inter from Juventus this summer, had not scored more than once in a Serie A match since April 2018.
However, this brace propelled Dybala to 100 goals in his career, making him only the eighth player since 2004-05 to do so.
Mourinho, the coach of Roma, is working hard to keep Dybala in peak condition, despite the fact that he has started all four matches this season but has been substituted in all of them.
Dybala never started 30 league games for Juventus in a single season, as he was plagued by injury issues that also hampered his international career.
Dybala will play a key role for Argentina in Qatar in November in this form, and Mourinho expects gratitude from Albiceleste coach Lionel Scaloni.
“He couldn’t quite pull off the things he wanted to at times in the other games, but he never showed the wrong attitude,” Mourinho said of Dybala after the Monza game. “Great.
“There are times when a talented player helps his team, but he is also somewhat isolated from it.”
“However, Paulo is a fantastic talent who also plays for and with the team.” Right now, he’s doing an excellent job for us on the defensive side of the ball – something he wasn’t born to do.
“When he came off today, he told me, ‘Boss, if I had continued, I would have gotten my third.’ ‘Get it against Udinese instead!’ I told him.
“It’s important to manage him a little bit because he’s had some bad luck with injuries in the past and he didn’t play a lot last season.” His levels are currently improving.
“He’s fantastic for us, and I can already see what’s going to happen in Qatar.” Perhaps Argentina’s coach should bring us a bottle of wine.”
Dybala has only three goals in 34 appearances for Argentina; he has only started one major tournament match and was limited to 77 minutes in 2022 World Cup qualifying.