Roma boss Jose Mourinho has expressed his concerns about refereeing and VAR, ahead of the Giallorossi’s Serie A clash against Sassuolo.
Roma were recently held to a 1-1 draw by Servette in the Europa League, leaving Mourinho to question the attitudes of some of his players – especially Houssem Aouar. Roma are currently fifth in the Serie A, three points off fourth placed Napoli in the table.
They take on Sassuolo in their next game tomorrow and they could cut the gap on Napoli, who take on Inter. But ahead of the game, Mourinho spoke about refereeing and VAR.Â
He said (via La Gazzetta dello Sport): “We always have difficulties against them (Sassuolo), then I’m honest and the referee worries me. We’ve had him several times and he doesn’t have the stability for matches of this level. His profile doesn’t leave me at peace, as does the VAR (Di Bello).”
Mourinho also spoke about Domenico Berardi, saying: “And then there’s Berardi, he’s a fantastic player but he needs to have a little more respect for his opponents. What he does to make fun of his opponents and get fouls is too much. I love the player he is but I don’t like him at all.”
The Roma boss also clarified his comments from after the Servette draw, saying that the matter has been spoken about privately with the players he intended to speak about.
He said: “It’s a waste of time if anyone thinks I’m going to name the players I was referring to. Today I spoke internally between us. The more positive the relationship, the easier it is to go back to topics and say bad things. I said what I thought and continue to think so.”
Mourinho’s comments about referees aren’t rare and he has a strange relationship with officials, having previously been involved in legal cases with two referees last season.
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Kaustubh Pandey | GIFN
