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Never one to shy away from controversy, Jose Mourinho launched a scathing attack on English referee, Anthony Taylor, in the Puskas Arena car park after Roma’s penalty shootout defeat to Sevilla in the Europa League final last night.
Mourinho, who had never lost a European final before last night, was furious with the refereeing performance of Taylor who Mourinho believes favoured Sevilla in a string of big incidents. During the 120 minutes, Mourinho was booked for dissent while seven of his Roma players were also booked in a match that Taylor struggled to get control over.
Afterwards, Mourinho made his feelings perfectly clear to Taylor who the 60-year-old knows all too well after managerial stints at Chelsea and Manchester United in the Premier League. Mourinho verbally attacked the official with a series of expletives before walking up to his vehicle and brandishing him a “disgrace”.
The moment was caught on a video recording which UEFA are now expected to examine before deciding what level of punishment to serve Mourinho. The self-anointed “special one” has been in trouble several times this season with officials and even wore a hidden microphone in a recent Serie A match to “protect himself”.
Mourinho going nuclear on Anthony Taylor ☢️ pic.twitter.com/p0UHgT4B8m
— Nima Tavallaey Roodsari (@NimaTavRood) May 31, 2023
“The Referee seemed Spanish”
In his post-match press conference, Mourinho didn’t hold back when asked about Anthony Taylor’s performance. The ex-Chelsea boss said:
“It was an intense, vibrant game with a referee who seemed Spanish. It was yellow, yellow, yellow all the time. This is a European final and with this kind of refereeing, it is hard to accept.
If we talk about refereeing situations, it’s not two or three: it is many, quite apart from the big decisions. Those of us who have been in football for a long time realise immediately what is going on.”
There were several incidents that Mourinho wasn’t happy with, including Taylor’s decision not to award his side a penalty in the 80th minute when the ball struck a Sevilla arm in the penalty box and the re-taking of Gonzalo Montiel’s penalty in the shootout. Talking about other specific incidents that irked him, Mourinho said:
“Pellegrini falls in the box and is given a yellow card; Ocampos did exactly the same thing and he doesn’t get one. It’s a scandal. VAR called the referee and shames Ocampos but there’s no card given. Lamela – who, by the way, scored one of the penalties – deserved a second yellow but didn’t get it. And let’s not even talk about the big decisions. That’s just the small details.”
How in the hell is this not a penalty? pic.twitter.com/e5FxHlQnku
— Lupo 🇮🇹 (@LupoASRoma) May 31, 2023
Where does Mourinho go from here?
Much like he did in 2017 when he led Manchester United to Europa League glory, Mourinho put all his eggs in the European basket but this time it has backfired. It means that Roma will either be playing in the Europa League or Europa Conference League again next season after sacrificing league results in recent weeks.
Whether Mourinho will be the man to lead them into either of those competitions next season remains to be seen. He has been linked with the PSG job and after the game last night he spoke about how he “deserves more” in the biggest hint yet that he will be leaving the Italian capital this summer.
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