Mourinho posted a picture of handcuffs protesting Serie A
At the beginning of the second half, losing 1-2 at Cremonese in the 24th round of Serie A on February 28, Mourinho argued fiercely with the fourth referee Serra outside the touchline and was directly red carded by the referee Marco Piccinini.
A day later, the Serie A organizers banned Mourinho from directing two matches, against Juventus on March 5 and Sassuolo on March 12, and paid more than $ 10,000 for improper behavior in the match against Cremonese. After that, Roma appealed to the tournament organizers to postpone the penalty, helping Mourinho to direct the 1-0 victory over Juventus at the Olimpico.
But on March 10, the appeal was rejected, Serie A received a two-match suspension and an initial fine of more than 10,000 USD with Mourinho. Accordingly, the "Special Person" will not be able to direct the match against Sassuolo on March 12 and the derby against Lazio on March 19.
Immediately after the punishment with Mourinho was confirmed, Roma responded with a media boycott notice. The Olimpico stadium owner will not let players, coaches or members answer press conferences both before and after matches in Serie A. This move will take place at least in the two matches against Sassuolo and Lazio.
However, Roma still fulfill their media obligations before and after the second leg of the 1/8 round against Real Sociedad in Spain on March 16. According to Football Italy, the Rome club only did so due to obligations to UEFA.
On the same day, Mourinho posted a picture of his wrists crossed on Instagram with the message "Thank you so much", and tagged sponsor brands. The post received more than 450,000 likes and nearly 8,000 comments in one day.
According to Football Italy, Mourinho recreated the "legendary gesture" when he was at Inter in 2010. In the match against Sampdoria at home to Giuseppe Meazza in Serie A, Inter had to play two men short when referee Paolo Tagliavento pulled out a red card with the team. midfielders Walter Samuel and Ivan Cordoba. Outside the touchline, Mourinho crossed his arms and pointed towards the camera, referring to the invisible handcuffs holding the club back.
"Even in silence, Mourinho always knows how to convey a message," Football Italy commented on the latest photo of the Roma head coach.
After the loss to Cremonese, Mourinho hinted that Serra was deliberately aggressive to get him disqualified, wanted the organizers to find recordings on the pitch for evidence and left open the possibility of taking legal action. According to the video circulating on social media, Serra told Mourinho "Go home" and "Everyone is making fun of you", after the Roma head coach was sacked.
However, on the ANSA news agency, a representative of the Italian Arbitration Association (AIA) said there was a lack of evidence to prove Mourinho's accusations with the fourth referee. "The fourth referee was not recorded because his voice and background noise would interfere with the referee's and VAR's sound. The recording will only take place if the fourth referee records himself and activates the mechanism. but that did not happen in the previous match," the AIA representative explained further.
