José Mourinho escalated his verbal attacks on the referee Anthony Taylor after Roma’s Europa League final defeat by swearing at him in a car park while calling the English official “a disgrace”.
Mourinho was filmed shouting abuse at Taylor in English and Italian in the VIP car park before leaving the Puskas Arena in Budapest. Towards the end of about 50 seconds of criticism he walked up to the passenger door of what appears to be the van in which Taylor is to be driven away.
The Roma manager could face punishment from Uefa for his conduct there and in the press conference after Roma lost on penalties to Sevilla. Mourinho used the word “scandal” when describing Taylor’s performance to reporters. He and several of his staff were shown yellow cards on a night when seven Roma players were booked.
“This is a European final and with this kind of refereeing, it is hard to accept,” Mourinho said in his press conference. “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 a long time realise immediately what is going on.
“[Lorenzo] Pellegrini falls in box and given a yellow card; [Lucas] 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. [Érik] 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.”
Mourinho also referred to Gonzalo Montiel getting a second chance to take the match-winning penalty after Roma’s goalkeeper, Rui Patrício, was adjudged by the VAR to have moved off his line too soon before saving the Argentinian’s first attempt.
Mourinho referred not long before his car-park behaviour to the need to keep one’s dignity. “I told my players you can lose a match but never your dignity,” he said. “We lost today but we did not lose our dignity.”
