What really happened between Jose Mourinho and referee Anthony Taylor after the Europa League final
Mourinho was seen shouting profanities at the English ref, with his Roma side losing on penalties to Sevilla
Roma manager Jose Mourinho was involved in an altercation with referee Anthony Taylor following his side's Europa League Final defeat to Sevilla, the Portuguese boss confronting the Englishman in the car park of Budapest's Puskas Arena.
Stoppages, disruptions and arguments ensued for the entire 120 minutes of the match, with Mourinho's Roma players enacting the personality of their famed coach.
Indeed, Anthony Taylor issued 14 yellow cards in total, a Europa League record, with one even brandished to Mourinho himself for his remonstrations on the touchline. Roma received eight of those, further highlighting their contempt against the English referee's decisions.
A five-minute period in the second half of regular time heightened tensions, though, with Sevilla initially awarded a penalty for an alleged foul on Lucas Ocampos. After a VAR review, though, Anthony Taylor overturned his original decision.
Just minutes later, Roma were left furious and demanding a penalty of their own, with the Italian side arguing Loic Bade handballed it. Taylor chose not to award a penalty, while VAR also agreed that Bade's arm was in a natural position
Eventually, the game concluded with a penalty shootout, which Sevilla won 4-1, though that itself wasn't without its controversy.
When Roma goalkeeper Rui Patricio saved Gonzalo Montiel's initial penalty, he offered his side a route back into the shootout. However, Montiel was allowed to retake from 12 yards, after "encroachment", and the Argentine didn't make the same mistake twice and managed to dispatch the winning penalty, handing Sevilla their seventh Europa League trophy.
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Mourinho, clearly incensed with the outcome of the game, threw his runners-up medal into the crowd before approaching Taylor in the car park.
He shouted: "It's a f***ing disgrace, it's a f***ing disgrace".
The Portuguese manager then proceeded to shout at him in Italian, before continuing with further profanities in English. He even made his way onto the minibus transporting the match officials at one point, saying, "congratulations, you f***ing disgrace".
In his post-match press conference, Mourinho once again highlighted what he believed was poor refereeing in the game.
"I always tell my players you can lose a match but you can't lose your dignity. The lads lost the match, and I lost it as well, but we haven't lost our dignity - the opposite. I have won five finals and I did not go back home once prouder than tonight. Happier, maybe, but not prouder.
"I need to defend my players, and I must say we are used to it [poor officiating], but still seeing this kind of refereeing in a European final is really, really hard."
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Ryan is a staff writer for FourFourTwo, joining the team full-time in October 2022. He first joined Future in December 2020, working across FourFourTwo, Golf Monthly, Rugby World and Advnture's websites, before eventually earning himself a position with FourFourTwo permanently. After graduating from Cardiff University with a degree in Journalism and Communications, Ryan earned a NCTJ qualification to further develop as a writer while a Trainee News Writer at Future.