Jose Mourinho has threatened legal action against the fourth official for Roma's game against Cremonese on Tuesday night, after being sent off in the opening minutes of the second half for dissent.
The third red card Mourinho has received this season, referee Marco Piccinini sent off the Portuguese manager for shouting at the fourth official, Marco Serra.
However, Mourinho claims Serra instigated the dispute, arising from a coming together on-field between Roma's Marash Kumbulla and Cremonese's Frank Tsadjout. Kumbulla was adjudged to have fouled Tsadjout.
Appealing the decision given by Piccinini on the pitch, Mourinho approached Serra for clarification. Serra allegedly told him to "mind your own f****** business", though, before reportedly saying "they all take the p*** out of you, go home" to Mourinho when he was eventually sent off.
"I need to understand if I can take any legal action," Mourinho said in his post-match press conference. "Piccinini gave me a red card, because unfortunately the fourth official does not have the capacity to understand what he said to me.
Another week, another Jose Mourinho red card 😂 pic.twitter.com/sWMjRfgsqpFebruary 28, 2023
"I want to find out if there is an audio recording. I don’t want to get into the fact that Serra is from Turin and on Sunday we are playing against Juventus.
"For the first time in my career, a fourth official spoke to me in the most incredible way. It was unjustifiable. At the end of the game, I went to speak to them. Piccinini, who was the fourth official in the last game when I was sent off, told me to apologise to Serra. I told Serra he should have the courage to explain what happened, but he had memory problems."
According to Gazzetta dello Sport, the Italian Football Federation will investigate the incident in full detail to ascertain the version of events.
Roma were 1-0 down when Mourinho got sent off, but managed to draw level later in the game through Leonardo Spinazzola, despite their boss being absent from the touchline. In the 83rd minute, though, Cremonese retook the lead and all three points through a Daniel Ciofani penalty - their first Serie A win of the season.
Roma travel to Turin on Sunday to play a resurgent Juventus, but they will be without Jose Mourinho.
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