José Mourinho was unhappy with decisions from referee Anthony Taylor during the Europa League Final against Sevilla, including a potential red card for Erik Lamela and a denied penalty kick for the Giallorossi.
Roma lost the Europa League Final on penalties against the La Liga side on Wednesday.
Mourinho blamed referee Taylor during a post-match interview with Sky Sport Italia, saying that the English official ‘seemed Spanish.’
Mourinho and Roma’s players appealed for a penalty kick in the second half for a potential handball of Fernando. The Special One was furious and was seen pointing ‘seven’ to Taylor, probably referring to yellow cards shown to Roma players.
During his post-match interview with DAZN, Mou explained in more detail what he didn’t like about Taylor’s decisions.
“We are accustomed to the influence of referees in our games, it’s nothing new, but I didn’t expect it in a European final,” he said.
“If you look at Ibanez’s mouth, you understand everything. Lamela even took a penalty. He should have seen a second yellow card. Look at the team that kept possession in the first half. It ended up with three yellow cards and none to them.”
Lamela had elbowed Ibanez but was only given a yellow card during extra time. Following the impact, the Roma defender was given stitches. Lamela then committed a second blatant foul in the final stages of extra time but didn’t see a second yellow despite Roma’s protests.
Mourinho also complained about a yellow card shown to Lorenzo Pellegrini for diving, but Taylor didn’t take the same decision when VAR ruled out a penalty he had awarded to Sevilla.
“There was a yellow card for Pellegrini and then Lucas Ocampos dived, VAR said it was not a penalty and he [Ocampos] got no yellow card. It’s incredible because he [Taylor] is a good referee.”
Mourinho is spot on. The ref was a cheat.