Mourinho told Roma U14 players to buy time
"Mourinho dunked himself in boiling water with a series of unsportsmanlike behaviors during the U14's Rome derby on February 26," the Italian newspaper Corriere della Serra commented.
During this youth football match, the Portuguese coach watched and booed Alexandru Miloiu when the Lazio U14 player took the penalty. Corriere della Serra described Mourinho's move as making the Lazio youth team "boil".
Later, when Roma were leading 2-1, Mourinho also told the home team's young players to buy time by lying on the field and pretending to have cramps. Lazio coach Tobia Assumma is said to have questioned Mourinho at the time, and said: "No, sir, this is not over".
When the match ended with a 2-1 victory for Roma U14, the Portuguese coach stayed to congratulate and take pictures with the players.
VoceLazio - a news site dedicated to Lazio - saw that Mourinho and a number of Roma first-team players who came to watch live had engaged in behavior that "goes against respect and sportsmanship, insults opponents and tells the players." Their defenders buy time."
Two days after the incident, Mourinho argued fiercely with the fourth referee Serra outside the touchline and received a direct red card at the beginning of the second half, losing 1-2 at the bottom team Cremonese in the 24th round of Serie A. even more angry after being sent off and loudly protesting to referee Marco Piccinini, pointing to Serra and emphasizing "It's him, it's him".
After the match, Mourinho hinted that Serra was deliberately aggressive to get him disqualified, wanted the organizers to find the 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.
But on ANSA, 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.
On March 1, Mourinho received a two-match ban, against Juventus on March 5 and Sassuolo on April 12, and paid more than $ 10,000 for improper behavior in the match against Cremonese. The Serie A organizers announced the reason why the 60-year-old coach was fined: "For opposing the referee's decision strongly, provocatively and repeating this behavior at the time of being sent off. Moreover, Mourinho also went to the umpire's locker room and addressed the fourth umpire with serious insults and inferences".
This is the third time Mourinho has been sent off this season, and the fifth red card since taking charge of Roma in the summer of 2021, all because of the referee's reaction. Previously, the 60-year-old coach was sent off in a 0-1 loss to Atalanta in round 7 and a 1-1 draw with Torino in round 15 of Serie A.
No other player or coach has been sent off so many times this season. If players are counted alone, only Atalanta's Luis Muriel, Empoli's Jean-Daniel Akpa-Akpro and Empoli's Sebastiano Luperto, have received more than one red card in the 2022-2023 season.
