Jose Mourinho faces potential ban over referee comments

The Special One has had a long history with referees

By Web Desk
December 09, 2023
Jose Mourinho is in the third year of his contract with AS Roma. — AFP

AS Roma boss Jose Mourinho could be suspended for one match following his comments on match referee Matteo Mercenaro before the match against Sassuolo on December 3, reported La Gazzetta dello on Saturday.

The Special One told reporters during his pre-match press conference that he was ‘worried’ about the 31-year-old official.

“To be honest, I will say that I am worried about the referee. We had this official three times and I don’t think he has the emotional stability to work at this level,” he said.

Mourinho paid a visit to FIGC prosecutor Giuseppe Chine where he was investigated for his comments in a meeting that lasted for almost 90 minutes, the report added.

Courtesy of his cooperation with the prosecutor’s office, it is likely that his punishment will be reduced to 10 days, which means that Roma boss will only miss one match.

It must be noted that this was not the first time Mourinho had to go through trouble due to his comments on match officials.

In the 2023 UEFA Europa League (UEL) final between AS Roma and Sevilla, Controversy arose after the Italian club were denied a penalty after an alleged handball by a Sevilla player in the penalty box at around 80 minutes, a member of Mourinho’s staff was also shown a yellow card for protesting.

Mourinho was seen criticising the match referee Anthony Taylor in his post-match conference after the UEL final. In a video circulating on social media, Jose was also heard calling the English referee a “disgrace”.

Mourinho’s charge for using insulting/abusive language towards a match official was one of several charges levelled against both clubs after a stormy final that yielded 13 yellow cards.

It is worth mentioning that after joining Roma in 2021, the Italian won the UEFA Conference League and played the UEL final, the club played two successive European finals for the first time in their history.

AS Roma currently sit on 4th position in Serie A with 24 points in 14 matches, they can go three points above 5th placed Napoli if they beat Fiorentina in a Sunday night encounter.

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