Dejan Stankovic was again unhappy with the refereeing as 10-man Sampdoria lost to Roma and reacted to Jose Mourinho silencing insulting chants. ‘I am proud of who I am.’
The Blucerchiati had held out well at the Stadio Olimpico until Jeison Murillo was sent off at the 52nd minute.
While the second yellow card was inevitable for the late tackle on Tammy Abraham, there are question marks over the first, which was considered fairly harsh.
“We played with real character, then the game changed with the Murillo red card,” Stankovic told DAZN.
“It is disappointing that happened. I am so fed up of these incidents that I no longer want to even comment on them. We could’ve done better, we could’ve done worse, but I liked the way the lads played.
“They care about Samp and understand the difficulties. We have been penalised many times, but we’ll get up once again. These players are doing far more than many would expect in the circumstances.”
There was a moment after the red card when Stankovic was loudly protesting on the touchline.
Roma ultras in the Curva Sud began to aim insulting and racist chants towards the Serbian, until Mourinho held up a hand to gesture for them to stop. Did Stankovic appreciate that?
“I thank Jose, because I didn’t even notice, but as for the chants, I am proud of who I am. I am proud to be a gypsy.”
Sampdoria are still in penultimate place on 15 points, between Cremonese on 13 and Verona with 19.
All the bottom three lost, but Spezia and Salernitana drew 1-1 today, therefore expanding the gap from the drop zone to six points.