Inter Milan moved top of the Serie A table after beating Roma 3-1 at the San Siro.
Goals from Denzel Dumfries, Marcelo Brozovic and Lautaro Martinez rendered Henrikh Mkhitaryan's late effort a mere consolation for Roma.
The Giallorossi have a mountain to climb if they are to qualify for next season's UEFA Champions League as they find themselves in sixth place, five points behind Juventus in fourth, and with just four matches left to play.
Mourinho is highly revered at Inter, having spent two successful seasons in charge of the club, winning the Champions League, Coppa Italia and two Serie A titles.
"I love Inter, Inter love me," Mourinho said after the game.
"Obviously now I can say that we don't play against Inter, Milan, Juve and Napoli, now I can say that I would like Inter to win the Scudetto. But before the game I was only focused on winning.
"I love Inter but I love Rome and I love my job. We are paid to win."
"They are too much Inter, the strongest team in the league," he said. "They have strong players on all aspects.
"I say this with respect, there are many 'animals' in their team. To win against them you have to find them at a time when they are in trouble, as they were a few weeks ago, or to win against them you have to be perfect and we weren't. We have been good, but not perfect.
"We did well but then we had a concentration break in the last 10-15 minutes of the first half. Then in the second half we conceded a goal from a set piece and my players knew it perfectly well because we had talked about it so much."
