Jose Mourinho accuses fourth official of pro-Juventus bias as Roma slip to SHOCKING defeat against Cremonese – who hadn’t won in 23 previous Serie A games
Jose Mourinho lashed out at the fourth official as his Roma side slipped to a 2-1 loss at Cremonese on Tuesday, accusing him of pro-Juventus bias.
Roma slipped to 2-1 defeat
Cremonese recorded first league win of season
Mourinho blamed sending off on official’s Juve bias
WHAT HAPPENED? A 17th-minute Frank Tsadjout effort and Daniel Ciofani penalty seven minutes from time cancelled out Leonardo Spinazzola’s equaliser in the 71st minute. Things went from bad to worse for Roma when Mourinho was sent off – for the third time this season – a decision made by the fourth official which he feels was influenced by the official’s club loyalties.
WHAT THEY SAID: “I’m not crazy. For the reaction I got, you need to know what happened,” the Roma boss after the match. “Piccinini sent me off because the fourth official pushed him to do so. He doesn’t have the honesty to say what he said to me and what gave rise to my reaction. I don’t want to go into the question that Serra is from Turin and he had me sent off in view of the Juventus game.
“But for the first time in my career, a referee spoke to me in an unjustifiable way. I was lucky to have Piccinini as fourth official once when I was sent off, when I apologized to the referee for the lack of respect. Now he saw me enter the dressing room when I asked the fourth official for honesty. Serra had problems around memory, he forgot.”
THE BIGGER PICTURE: The suspension means that Mourinho – as he alluded to in his post-match – will be absent for Sunday’s crunch game with Juventus, which now holds greater significance after Roma’s near-inexplicable dropping of points on Tuesday. Before that matchup, Cremonese hadn’t won in 23 attempts in Serie A, and their win still only puts them a mammoth eight points from safety.
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DID YOU KNOW? Tuesday’s victory was Cremonese’s first Italian top-flight win since March 1996.
WHAT NEXT FOR MOURINHO? The Portuguese tactician will watch on from the sidelines when Roma host Juve on Sunday, who could pull within six points of the Giallorossi with a win – provided they beat rivals Torino later on Tuesday.
