Roma boss Jose Mourinho was left fuming after the Giallorossi were held to a 1-1 draw by Monza and he had some harsh words for referee Daniele Chiffi after the game.
Mourinho was yellow carded in the game and later, Zeki Celik was sent off in the final few minutes of the tie. He will now miss Roma’s upcoming vital clash against Inter, which could define whether they finish inside the top four this season or not.
While Mourinho has been quite vocal about poor refereeing a fair amount of times since he has arrived in Serie A, he seemed to have stepped up a gear this time. After the draw against Monza, he spoke to DAZN (via TMW) about Chiffi’s performance in the game and stated:
“Today we played with the worst referee I’ve ever met in my entire career, and I found him poor. When they say that the referee affects the result, that’s not the case, but it’s difficult to play with someone like him because technically, he’s horrible and from a human point of view, he’s not empathetic and in the end, he sent off a player who slipped because he’s dead tired in the 96th minute.
“It’s a limitation for Roma as a club because we don’t say we don’t want a referee. I stopped being worked up 30 minutes from the end because I knew he would give me a red card. Roma must also grow from this point of view, we don’t have this DNA and so it becomes tough. Saturday, we face a super team and I can’t help but be with these guys. That’s why I avoided intervening and risking getting a red .At the end of the race, I didn’t even want to see him, I went out earlier. “
Because of the result, Roma fell to seventh in the Serie A and they are now two points away from fourth. But they are tied on 58 points with both Atalanta and Milan. The upcoming game against Inter could be vital and a loss could mean that the gap between them and fourth-placed Nerazzurri could rise to five points with four games to go.
Kaustubh Pandey | GIFN
