Jose Mourinho has been charged by UEFA for using ‘insulting/abusive language against a match official’ after confrontations with Anthony Taylor during Wednesday’s Europa League final.
The Roma manager and his staff were abusive towards the Premier League referee numerous times during the defeat to Sevilla in Budapest.
After the game, footage on social media showed Mourinho directing a string of expletives toward the officials in the car park, labelling their performance a “disgrace”.
Mourinho continued his criticism of the officials in his post-match press conference, saying: “I need to defend my lads, and I must say that we are used to it, but still seeing this kind of refereeing in a European final is really, really hard.
“It was an intense, vibrant game with a referee who seemed Spanish. It was yellow, yellow, yellow all the time.”
Taylor and his family were also harassed as they made their way home from the final on Thursday.
Clips on social media show them being ushered out of a cafe and into a secure area by airport security after supporters hounded the referee following an ill-tempered final on Wednesday evening.
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The clips on Twitter show a chair and bottle being thrown in the direction of Taylor and his group.
A statement from Budapest Airport said criminal proceedings had begun against a man who had been charged with affray after the incident.
Rather than backtracking from their criticism of Taylor, Roma doubled down and their general manager Tiago Pinto told Italian media on Thursday: “We at AS Roma don’t want to raise doubts about Sevilla’s merits. We believe that with our opponents we put on a great final and honoured the stage offered to us by UEFA in the best way.
“We don’t usually comment about these types of situations but we’ve analysed both the most glaring incidents and those seemingly less evident and it is clear that in disciplinary terms the refereeing of the match was not balanced.”
Sevilla won on penalties to condemn Mourinho to his first defeat in a European final after an ill-tempered match which saw British referee Taylor dishing out 14 yellow cards, the most ever in a Europa League game, and playing almost 30 minutes of stoppage time in total.
While Mourinho was individually charged, both clubs have also been charged with a number of offenses by UEFA, with fan behaviour also penalised.
Roma were also charged with throwing of objects, lighting of fireworks, acts of damage, crowd disturbances and improper conduct of their team.
Sevilla too have been charged with throwing of objects, lighting of fireworks, acts of damage, crowd disturbances and improper conduct of their team.
No statement expected from Roma on Europa League fall-out
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Sky Italy reporter Filippo Benicampi on Sky Sports News:
“There was some criticism over the refereeing [in Italy], but once we saw what happened straight after the game, we were quite surprised to see Jose doing that because he is always very correct.
“There have been some issues with referees this season in Serie A as well, but he went too far and a line was crossed in that moment.
“There was a midweek game against Cremonese and Roma lost the game 2-1 with a last minute penalty. Straight after, Jose said he had never been treated in that way by any referees in his career.
“The game after, he decided to record the whole happenings in the 90 minutes and after that game, he said on the recording ‘I’m not stupid, this already happened before and it wasn’t recorded. Now, I have a mic on and everything is recorded’.
“We’ve seen a lot of scenes this season of Roma protesting and arguing with referees. The tension was really high and the peak was there in the final.
“The news is that Roma will not be making any statement. We’re a bit surprised about that because the Premier League made a very clear statement and we were all expecting Roma to condemn what happened [with Taylor at the airport].
“But there is no statement yet and from what we understand, no statement will be released in the next hours and days.
“This is probably a lack of class because we were really expecting a statement as the issue is very important.”
Why Jose Mourinho has gone too far this time
As part of an upcoming project, this journalist has been asking coaches across Europe to name their most influential peers in the game right now. There have been plenty of shouts for Pep Guardiola and Roberto De Zerbi but the list is eclectic.
One former Serie A coach highlighted the work of Rob Edwards at Luton Town. A number of Spanish coaches were drawn to the style Russell Martin has been implementing at Swansea. There was even admiration for the coach of a mid-table team in Japan.
But nobody has yet name-checked Jose Mourinho.
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Perhaps it is a case of familiarity breeding contempt. But as Mourinho, 60, capped an ill-tempered Europa League final defeat to Sevilla by yelling expletives at the officials in, of all places, the car park, just after he had preached of his pride at his dignity, it made for a sad sight.
This is not new. It has been the near constant soundtrack to his career. Always there with a quote, this perma-grievance is his base state. Never truly beaten. Never less than irked. Forever there with a barbed statistic and an argument to make.
For Mourinho, the ends have always justified the means. But when victory does not accompany the incendiary antics, what remains? Just the blame game and an insipid display in Budapest. An advertisement for anti-football gone wrong. It was ugly and it failed.
Dermot: Mourinho behaviour totally unacceptable
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Former Premier League referee Dermot Gallagher told Sky Sports News:
“It’s not the done thing and it’s not what people want to see. It’s certainly not acceptable. I’m not saying it’s right, but if a manager has a go at the referee as he comes off at the end and he feels aggrieved, to a certain extent, I see that as frustration – although he still shouldn’t be doing it.
“But when you see a video that we’ve seen – after the referee has changed and is in his car going back to his hotel – Mourinho is there shouting at him, it’s totally unacceptable.
“It was a fiery encounter from start to finish and one of the toughest games I’ve ever seen. I would think the referee would have been mentally exhausted afterwards.
“I don’t think he could’ve done anything different. He was tested over and over and over again. In all kinds of manners, physically and mentally. The amount of times he had to go over to the bench.
“I thought Michael Oliver, his fourth official, had probably the toughest gig he ever had in his life. He’s worked so hard and they’ve ended up with cards on the bench.
“At one point it looked as though there was going to be a mass brawl and between them, they just controlled it. It was so difficult and I would think when they’re flying home today they’ll be so proud of themselves having come through such a challenge.”
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