Roma boss Jose Mourinho has once again hit the headlines after confronting referee Anthony Taylor in a car park following his side’s defeat to Sevilla in the Europa League final.
The Italian side fell to a penalty shootout defeat to the Europa League specialists after a game that was dubbed by many as the worst in recent history. Littered with fouls, it produced an astonishing 14 yellow cards, including members of both benches and constantly threatened to boil over into a full-on melee.
The man charged with keeping everybody in order was Englishman Anthony Taylor, and many thought that he did a good job of preventing chaos, while he was also quick to spot a dive for a penalty in the first half and overturn a penalty decision in the second.
Jose Mourinho, however, felt differently.
“I must say we are used to it but seeing this kind of refereeing in a European final is really, really hard”, he told the media after the game.
Waiting in the car park after giving away his runners up medal, the ex-Chelsea and Tottenham boss then proceeded gave Taylor and fourth official Michael Oliver a piece of his mind, labelling the referee a ‘f*cking disgrace’ in a foul-mouthed rant following the display.
𝗠𝗼𝘂𝗿𝗶𝗻𝗵𝗼: “𝗦𝗲𝗶 𝘂𝗻𝗮 𝗳*****𝗮 𝗱𝗶𝘀𝗴𝗿𝗮𝘇𝗶𝗮‼️”
L’allenatore della Roma urla tutta la sua rabbia in faccia all’arbitro Taylor🤬 Mentre Rosetti, designatore UEFA, cerca di calmarlo
📹 @GianluVisco #ASRoma #Mourinho #EuropaLeagueFinal #Sportitalia pic.twitter.com/3TxOZAEol0
— Sportitalia (@tvdellosport) May 31, 2023
Despite the theatrics, the defeat was his first ever in a European final, having helped Roma to Conference League success last season. They will need to beat relegation-threatened Spezia on the final day of the season to ensure that they stay in the Europa League for next season, and give Mourinho another chance at the competition.
