A furious Jose Mourinho labelled the referee in charge of Roma's disappointing 1-1 draw with mid-table Monza "horrible" and "the worst I've ever encountered."
The ex-Chelsea, Manchester United and Tottenham manager also hit out at his own club and its players, claiming that the match was a sign of their "weakness." Mourinho's Roma took an early lead in the Serie A contest, only to concede later in the first half and be left frustrated until the full-time whistle, leaving them in seventh place, two points adrift of the Champions League spots.
During the game, the Portuguese coach was shown a yellow card - the seventh time this season a referee has had to book him for contentious behaviour on the touchline - and right-back Zeki Celik saw red in the dying embers after two offences. That means Celik will be suspended for Saturday's showdown with Inter Milan, who leapt into fourth place with a 6-0 win on Wednesday.
Roma, meanwhile, endured a much more frustrating night in Monza, prompting a rage-filled Mourinho to take aim at 38-year-old referee Daniele Chiffi and quickly find himself in trouble with the Italian FA. "This was the worst referee I have encountered in my entire career," the 'Special One' told DAZN post-match in quotes carried by Football Italia.
"Believe me, I have dealt with many bad referees. Usually, when I talk about referees, it is because they have a direct influence on the game. In this case, I don't think that is true. But he is horrible, he makes no human connection with anyone, he has no empathy, he gives a red card to a player who slips because he is exhausted at the 96th minute."
Mourinho continued: "Unfortunately, this too is a sign of Roma's weakness as a club because we do not have the strength of other clubs who can say we don't want this referee. I stopped working 20-30 minutes from the end, because I knew he would give me a red card for anything.
"There are clubs that say I don't want this referee and Roma either don't have this capability or the DNA or anything else. It's horrible. With the few players I have in my squad, I could not get a red card. I really, badly wanted to say something, but I could not afford to be without my lads. This is why I left the field early, I didn't even want to look at him."
As the 60-year-old's comments made headlines on Thursday morning, the FIGC (the Italian FA) swiftly opened proceedings against Mourinho. Back in March, he was fined €10,000 (around £8,700) and given a two-game touchline ban for his behaviour during a shock 2-1 defeat away to struggling Cremonese.
After Wednesday's draw away to Monza, Mourinho went on to criticise the depth of quality in his squad, who'll face Bayer Leverkusen in a Europa League semi-final clash next week. "When you have 30 players who are all the same level, you can rotate easily. This is not our situation," Mourinho, not the first time since becoming Roma boss in 2021, bemoaned. "Squads who were horrible in Europe and were eliminated immediately, so they only get to play one game a week - this is not our situation.
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"Teams who did not quality for Europe, this is not our situation. We are the only club who do not have a squad to be in the position we are, but we are in the Europa League semi-final, we also played two extra games for the play-offs, and we do not have the potential to do that.
He did, however, commend his players' efforts and noted: "These lads deserve me to be here until the last minute of the season, always saying the same thing, that I am so proud of their efforts and what they are doing."
