José Mourinho was not a fan of referee Anthony Taylor’s performance in the Europa League final on Wednesday.
But that wasn’t enough for the Portuguese manager. Mourinho also wanted to again tell Taylor to his face how displeased he was. So he waited outside the Roma team bus to find the referee and tell him that his performance was a “f—–g disgrace” and that the Englishman and his fellow referees were “f—–g crooks.”
Jose Mourinho waited outside to call Anthony Taylor a 'f*cking crook' 😳 pic.twitter.com/0BrQfTZL9x
— GOAL (@goal) June 1, 2023
Mourinho goes off in press conference
Prior to the parking lot confrontation, Mourinho told the media exactly how he felt about Taylor and his crew.
“The referee seemed like he was Spanish,” Mourinho said. “The result was not fair, and there are a lot of instances to reexamine.”
Some of those instances included Taylor not giving Roma a penalty kick in the second half after an alleged handball, as well as the referee not sending Erik Lamela off for a second yellow card.
“This is a European final, and with this kind of refereeing, it is hard to accept. 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 realize immediately what is going on,” Mourinho said.
“[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.
“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.”
Taylor did award 14 yellow cards in the match, a new record for a Europa League final.
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