After referee Anthony Taylor was accosted by Roma fans in the airport and Jose Mourinho hurled abuse, now director Tiago Pinto says the official’s performance was ‘not balanced’ in the Europa League Final with Sevilla.
The game ended 1-1 in Budapest last night and had to be decided on a penalty shoot-out, including the decisive Gonzalo Montiel kick that was saved by Rui Patricio and then repeated due to encroachment.
Montiel scored at the second time of asking and handed the trophy to Sevilla.
“We at AS Roma do not want to doubt the merits of Sevilla, we believe that with our opponents we played a great final, honouring the spotlight that UEFA offered us,” Roma director Tiago Pinto told news agency ANSA.
“We are not accustomed to commenting on this type of situation in the heat of the moment, but today we analysed both the most obvious incidents and those that were less evident, and it is clear that the officiating in terms of disciplinary action was not balanced.
“The penalty not awarded for Fernando’s handball is clear for all to see, but our frustration is not solely because of that single incident. Among various situations, Matic was booked for a wide arm on the Ocampos header, the contact is almost accidental. If that is worth a booking, then Lamela’s elbow on Ibanez should’ve been without doubt a red card. Roger has a visible cut to his lip, while Lamela was several times let off from a second yellow in the second half of extra time.
“We congratulate Sevilla for their success, their team fought hard, but I want to say with clarity on behalf of the club that the refereeing was not up to the standard of a Final.”
This is considerably less perhaps than Mourinho and the supporters were expecting as an official statement from the club.
The coach was insulting Taylor straight after the match in media interviews and the official press conference, then was caught on camera in the stadium car park calling the referee a “f***ing disgrace” while UEFA officials tried to lead him away.
Mourinho’s attitude spilled over to the fans, who today crowded around Taylor and his family in the Budapest airport, shoving and jostling them, hurling insults and one supporter even threw a chair at him.
According to Sportitalia, one fan has been stopped by police for the chair incident.
It further raises the question of whether Roma are truly interested in backing Mourinho when he wages these battles against the officials in Serie A and the Europa League, after the coach complained he was “the only one talking and saying we were robbed.”