Author: Amrit Santlani
AS Roma coach José Mourinho has been suspended for four games by UEFA for confronting referee Anthony Taylor after his team’s defeat in the Europa League final.
A video of the incident has gone viral, in which Mourinho can be seen swearing at Taylor in the parking lot after the final,
which ended 1-1 and Sevilla won the game in Budapest on penalties.
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José, 60, was given a four-game suspension for insulting and insulting Taylor, who was also confronted by Roma fans at the airport on his way back to England.
And that’s not all: both Roma and Sevilla were also punished by UEFA for the behavior of their fans and players. The Italian club would be barred by the governing body from selling tickets to its fans traveling abroad for a game next season and also received a 55,000 euro fine after Roma fans were accused of setting off fireworks inside the stadium.
The 44-year-old referee struggled to keep control of the game and issued an impressive 13 yellow cards to players, the highest number of warnings issued in a Europa League match. Up to seven Roma players were punished, which was a record in the final.
After the match, José was heavily criticized for some of the calls made by Taylor and later decided to take matters into his own hands by confronting the Englishman in the parking lot as they were leaving.
Mourinho called the referee’s performance in the final a “disgrace” and even cursed the referee.
Paulo Dybala opened the scoring in the final with a goal in the 35th minute, before an own goal from Gianluca Mancini allowed reigning Europa League champions Sevilla back into the contest, winning the game 4-1 on penalties.
The Italian club finished seventh in Serie A in the recently concluded 2022-23 season and should therefore miss out on the Europa League.