Roma manager Jose Mourinho had several clashes with referee Anthony Taylor during and after the Europa League final; Premier League referee Taylor was also harassed by Roma fans at Budapest airport; West Ham fans have been banned from the next away game in European competition
16:34, UK, Wednesday 21 June 2023
Jose Mourinho has been banned from four UEFA competitions for abusing referee Anthony Taylor in the Europa League final.
During the loss to Sevilla in Budapest, the Roma manager and his staff verbally abused the Premier League official several times.
After the game, footage on social media showed Mourinho directing a number of action items at a group of officials in the car park, branding their performance a „disgrace”.
Mourinho criticized the officials in his post-match press conference: „I have to defend my players and I have to say we’re used to it, but it’s really, really hard to see referees like this in a European final.
„It was an intense, vibrant game with a referee who looked Spanish. It was yellow, yellow, yellow all the time.”
Jonathan Lew and Tom Roddy discuss the consequences of Jose Mourinho’s outburst at referee Anthony Taylor following Roma’s Europa League final defeat.
Taylor and his family were harassed on their way home from the final.
Clips on social media showed supporters leaving a cafe and being escorted to a safe area by airport security after they hounded the referee following Wednesday evening’s ill-fated final.
Clips on Twitter show a chair and bottle being thrown in the direction of Taylor and his group.
Former Premier League referee Dermot Gallagher described Jose Mourinho’s actions after Roma’s Europa League final defeat to Sevilla as unacceptable and was full of praise for Anthony Taylor and fourth official Michael Oliver.
In a statement from Budapest Airport, criminal proceedings have been launched against a person accused after the incident.
Rather than back down from their criticism of Taylor, Roma doubled down and their general manager Thiago Pinto told Italian media on Thursday: „We at AS Roma don’t want to cast doubt on Sevilla’s qualification. We believe we have to wear it with our opponents. The best final and what UEFA gave us.” Honored the stage in the best possible way.
„We don’t normally comment on these types of situations, but we’ve analyzed both the more obvious incidents and the seemingly less obvious ones, and it’s clear that the refereeing of the match is unbalanced in terms of discipline.”
Jose Mourinho says he 'must fight harder’ at Roma amid speculation linking him with the head coach role at Paris Saint-Germain.
British referee Taylor dished out 14 yellow cards in the Europa League game and played almost 30 minutes of stoppage time to seal Mourinho’s first defeat in a European final and win on penalties. Total.
Although Mourinho was charged separately, both clubs have been charged by UEFA with a number of offences, including fan behaviour.
Both Roma and Sevilla were charged with throwing objects, setting off fireworks, acts of vandalism, disrupting the crowd and disorderly conduct by their team.
West Ham banned for two European matches
Meanwhile, UEFA also announced that West Ham fans would be banned from European competition, and the competition was suspended for two years.
It relates to Hammers fans throwing missiles onto the pitch during the Europa Conference League final against Fiorentina in Prague earlier this month.
The Italian club’s defender Cristiano Braghi suffered a head injury from an object thrown from the crowd.