An incensed Jose Mourinho hit out at "the worst referee he has ever encountered" - after picking up his seventh booking of the season on Wednesday.
The Roma boss was left raging after his side dropped points to Monza in a serious blow to their Champions League hopes. A win would have left them fifth and level on points with fourth-placed Inter but Stephan El Shaarawy's first-half strike was cancelled out by Luca Caldirola before tempers flared near full-time. Right-back Mehmet Celik was sent off while Mourinho was booked by whistler Daniele Chiffi in a tempestuous finale.
Former Real Madrid, Chelsea and Manchester United boss Mourinho will do battle with another of his former teams this weekend in a massive showdown with Inter. For now, though, he's been left furious with ref Chiffi as he said: "This was the worst referee I have encountered in my entire career.
"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.
"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."
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