Jose Mourinho has hit out at referee Anthony Taylor following Roma’s penalty shootout defeat to Sevilla in the final of the Europa League, while he has played down links with Paris Saint-Germain. The Giallorossi took a first-half lead at the Puskas Arena in Budapest on Wednesday night through Paulo Dybala but were pegged back shortly after the restart following an own goal from Gianluca Mancini. Extra time and penalties followed, with Mancini and Roger Ibanez both seeing their spot-kicks saved by Bono before Argentina’s World Cup hero Gonzalo Montiel netted the winning penalty after a dramatic retake.
The match was a rather gruelling affair, with 13 yellow cards awarded – seven to Roma and six to Sevilla – which is the most-ever for a Europa League game. Both dugouts were rather ill-tempered, with Mourinho having to be held back by his coaching team at one point, and he was livid with the officiating afterwards, even claiming English ref Taylor ‘seemed Spanish’.
‘What I said is we either leave here with the Cup or we leave dead. Well, we’re dead,’ Mourinho told Sky Sport Italia after the match. ‘We’re dead tired physically, dead tired mentally, dead because we think it is an unjust defeat with lots of incidents that are debatable. We are dead tired, but proud. I always say you can lose a football match, but never your dignity or professionalism. I won five European finals, I lost this one, but I return home prouder than ever this time. The lads gave absolutely everything this season.’
He continued: ‘We care about the shirt, we care about our nature, we take things seriously, work with humility and give everything we have to give. Each of us react in a different way, one cries another doesn’t, but the truth is we are all very sad. We return dead tired, dead with feeling it is unjust. It was an intense, masculine, vibrant game with a referee who seemed Spanish. It was yellow, yellow, yellow all the time. The injustice is shown by the fact Erik Lamela should’ve had a second yellow, he didn’t, and he converted a penalty in the shootout.’
Mourinho continued his attack on Taylor in his post-match press conference, saying: ‘Since Taylor is such a great referee, let’s hope he will only be officiating in the Champions League [next season] and I hope his blunders will only be in the Champions League not in the Europa League because we’re more humble than that.’
Mourinho has been heavily linked with a summer switch to French champions Paris Saint-Germain recently, though the 60-year-old is adamant there has been no contact. ‘I am going on vacation on Monday. If we have time to talk about it before Monday, we will. If not, I will go on vacation and then we’ll see. I have to fight for these lads and therefore not say objectively that I will remain,’ said the Portuguese coach. ‘I am a serious man. I told the owners a few months ago that if I had some contact with other clubs, they would be the first to know. I would always be honest and direct. I spoke to the club in December when I had that approach from the Portuguese national team. I have not had any contact with anyone else since then. I have a year left on my contract and this is the situation.’