Jose Mourinho slams referee after Roma’s Coppa Italia loss to Lazio

Roma boss Jose Mourinho has slammed referee Daniele Orsato after the club’s loss to Lazio in the Coppa Italia.

The Giallorossi lost 1-0 to Lazio in the Coppa Italia, and have now been knocked out of the domestic cup. A penalty from Mattia Zacagna helped Lazio win, as they reached the semi-finals and stayed with a shot at winning silverware. 

But Roma boss Mourinho was not happy with refereeing in the game, stating that a team can’t win a game after Orsato hands a penalty to the opposition team. He also stated that the defeat was painful for the Giallorossi, for whom the Europa League is now he only shot at winning silverware.

The Portuguese said: “It’s always painful, when it’s the derby even more so. We have great difficulties, in recent weeks we have defeated Napoli, Juve, Atalanta and Lazio. Today we lose the match on a penalty from modern football. A penalty from VAR, which the referee doesn’t give from three meters away, but after it again on the VAR. 20 year old players would never throw themselves like those of today. It seemed to me that we were the ones with more chances, when Dybala is lost, it changes today like it did against Fiorentina.

“Without him, there is less quality in his game. The penalty foul is from a top child, but from a child who has 55 minutes of Serie A. On the first throw-in, it is not possible to do what we did. In matches of this type , whoever scores first is privileged. Afterwards, whoever plays at home has an advantage, because there are no more balls. The team that scores first with Orsato wins, because then he doesn’t let anyone play anymore.”

Roma did lose, but the game saw two sending offs at the end of the game. Pedro was sent off for Lazio, as Gianluca Mancini and Sardar Azmoun were sent off for the Giallorossi.  Milan and Atalanta play later and the winner will be the third team to qualify for the Coppa Italia semi-finals.

Kaustubh Pandey | GIFN