Jose Mourinho picked up his third red card of the Serie A season on Wednesday. The contentious manager was sent off just a few minutes into the second half of a matchup with Cremonese. Roma ended up losing the match 2-1 on the road against the relegation threatened side. While the defeat was certainly surprising, the red card was the major talking point after the match.
“I’m emotional but not crazy. For the first time in my career a referee has spoken to me in an unjustifiable way,” said Mourinho after the game. “To have the reaction I had is because something happened. I need to know now if I can do something from a legal point of view.”
Coach claims he was provoked by fourth official
The former Chelsea boss has claimed that the fourth official provoked him into the sending off. Mourinho, now 60, said that the sideline official told match referee Marco Piccinini to show him a red card without explanation. The coach earned a fine of $10,000 and served a two-game ban for the incident.
“Unfortunately, the fourth official doesn’t have the honesty to say what he said to me, how he said it and the way he treated me, which obviously triggered my reaction,” said Mourinho. “I want to see if there’s an audio recording of what he said to me.
Mourinho also hinted that the fourth official was bias because he is from Turin, where rivals Juventus are based. “I don’t want to get into the fact that he’s from Turin, that we have to play Juventus and he wants me off the touchline. I don’t want to get into that,” stated the manager.
Mourinho, clearly an experienced manager, said he never witnessed what transpired on the touchline in his career. “I want to get into the fact that for the first time in my career, a referee, and in this case a fourth official, spoke to me in an unacceptable way.”
Mourinho entered ref locker room after red card
The coach attempted to discuss the incident with referees after the game. However, Mourinho claims that the fourth official couldn’t remember exactly what was said on the sidelines.
“Piccinini saw me come into the dressing room and say to the fourth official ‘I want you to be honest and say what has happened’. He appears to have trouble with his memory,” said Mourinho.
The disciplinary actions handed down by Serie A were for his actions during the incident and in the locker room. Mourinho earned a red card in September against Atalanta and in November while facing Torino. He will now miss a massive matchup with Juve at the weekend as part of his punishment.
PHOTO: IMAGO / Gribaudi/ImagePhoto
