Referees support group has criticized Jose Mourinho’s actions toward Anthony Taylor following AS Roma’s defeat at the hands of Sevilla in the Europa League final on Wednesday, 31st of May.
The charity that supports referees led by CEO Martin Cassidy has condemned Jose Mourinho’s assault on English referee Anthony Taylor claiming the Roma head coach’s action could lead to a referee getting murdered.
What happened between Jose Mourinho and Anthony Taylor?
The Roma manager and his staff were extremely disrespectful to the Premier League referee following their team’s loss to Sevilla in Budapest.
Social media footage that went viral after the match shows Mourinho cursing at the officials and labeling their performance a disgrace.
Mourinho painted the air blue as he criticized Taylor for ‘seeming Spanish’ in the way he was issuing yellow cards to the Roma players.
The Portuguese international tagged the referee a f***king disgrace for his bull***it decisions, thwarting him as he attempted to depart in the bowels of the Puskas Arena on Wednesday night.
In his postgame press conference, Mourinho reiterated his criticism of the referees by saying, “I need to defend my lads, and I must say that we are used to it, but still seeing this kind of refereeing in a European final is really, hard.”
The game was tense, with Taylor issuing a record-tying 14 yellow cards (the most ever in a Europa League game) and over 30 minutes of stoppage time (also a record).
On Thursday, while Taylor and his family were returning from the championship game, they were also the target of harassment.
Fans hounded the referee after an ugly final on Wednesday night, and videos were posted online to show them being escorted out of a cafe and into a protected area by airport security.
On the other hand, after the match, some prominent figures, like Rio Ferdinand and Jeff Stelling, backed Taylor’s decision and condemned the antics of the Roma fans.
What Martin Cassidy said about Jose Mourinho’s attack on Anthony Taylor;
The charity referee support group CEO said; “The incidents were really worrying when taken into consideration alongside other attacks on referees by managers in the top fight”.
“It’s a really worrying incident this, and we just hope that Anthony and his family are OK and are being supported properly”.
“I think people need to recognize the consequences of what they say, what they tweet, what they do”.
He added: “Look at what has happened just domestically, we’ve said for a long time that we fear a match official is going to get murdered. And this is another step closer to that”.
The CEO of Ref Support emphasized that Mourinho should be banned and that Roma should be punished further for their head coach’s behavior.
However, On Friday, June 2, UEFA stated that disciplinary proceedings had been initiated against Mourinho for using insulting/abusive language against a match official, with a decision from the organization’s Control, Ethics, and Disciplinary Body (CEDB) expected in due course.
Fans of both sides have been accused of disrupting the game by lighting fireworks and tossing objects, with allegations of vandalism and other damage leveled against Roma’s supporters.
In addition to Gonzalo Montiel’s penalty kick-winning goal, Sevilla has been penalized for a pitch invasion by their fans.
