Roma manager Jose Mourinho has told the press on multiple occasions that the referee was responsible for their defeat in the Europa League final on Wednesday night. After a 1-1 draw, Sevilla managed to win the penalty shoot-out, but Mourinho claimed that Anthony Taylor gave his side too many yellow cards.
After the match he was asked in the flash interview about a penalty incident, and Mourinho told Marca that it wasn’t the only one.
“Several incidents in the game, no…? But that’s it, it’s over”.
“The truth is that we are all very sad. I said before we would go home with the trophy or dead. We go home dead because of an injustice. But it was a great game, a great final.”
“Then we had the best chances to win. Then penalties are penalties, you have to score them and they have won.”
Coming back to Taylor, Mourinho called it an injustice, claiming Erik Lamela should have seen a second yellow card.
“The referee seemed Spanish, so many yellow cards.”
“When he had to give a second [yellow to] Lamela, he didn’t get it out. And then he scored one of the penalties. It’s an injustice.”
“The influence of the referees in our matches is something we are used to, but in a European final I did not expect it.”
“It is enough to look at [Pablo] Ibanez’s mouth and you understand everything, to see [Erik] Lamela who has taken a penalty and should have been sent off; it is enough to see that the team that played the best in the first half is the one that has finished with three yellows. Pellegrini falls and is yellow, Ocampos simulates and there is no yellow.”
Ibanez came away with a cut on his lip, in an incident that was deemed accidental by the referee. He then went on to blame the fact that his side did not have the quality that Sevilla do, despite having a much larger budget.
“Sevilla are a great team, it is a reality. They have quality we don’t have, a squad that we don’t have. Also the experience. We had a great first half, then obviously they had a reaction.”
Mourinho’s future, like that of his counterpart Jose Luis Mendilibar, is not certain for next season.
“I’m looking forward to going home on Monday and playing on Sunday, since unfortunately I can’t be on the bench. I need a vacation, I’m very tired. I’ll be in Rome until Monday.”
“I have to fight for these guys and I can’t objectively say that I’m staying. I said a few months ago that if I had contact with a club I would tell the owners, I wouldn’t do anything in secret. I spoke to the club in December when Portugal were there. At the moment I have not spoken to anyone because there is no team. I have another year on my contract with Roma, the situation is this.”
After match Mourinho waited in the car park for the referees and UEFA delegates in order to shout and abuse them. It is not yet clear whether he will be sanctioned for his actions.
Image via Odd ANDERSEN / AFP
Typical madrid gene. Blaming refree for games and results that doesn’t go their way. Losers.