Jose Mourinho was left fuming at referee Anthony Taylor calling him Spanish after the Europa League final defeat on Wednesday. Sevilla won the game on penalties to inflict Mourinho his first loss in a European championship after a heated match in which British referee Taylor handed 14 yellow cards, the most ever in a Europa League game, and played more than 30 minutes of stoppage time overall.
“The match was exciting and fierce, and the referee appeared to be Spanish. All the while, it was yellow, yellow, yellow,” Jose Mourinho said after the Europa League final.
Mourinho shouted at the officials in the parking lot after the game, calling their behavior a “disgrace” and caught on video. On social media, the video has become very popular. Before considering whether or not to sanction Mourinho, UEFA is awaiting the referee’s match report. As a result of the loss, Roma were prevented from qualifying for the Champions League the next season, and the 60-year-old’s dedication to the Italian city was questioned since he was connected to Paris St. Germain. PSG has expressed early, hesitant interest in selecting Mourinho as their new manager. The current head coach, Christophe Galtier, has a contract that expires in 2024, thus the French champions will evaluate their possibilities at the end of the current season.
“I cannot genuinely say that I will remain because I must fight for these young guys. I spoke with the club in December when the Portuguese national team approached me. I haven’t talked to anybody else since that point. The situation is as follows because I still have one year left on my contract,” he added. “After a lot of acrimonious events, we feel like we’ve been unfairly vanquished and we’re exhausted both mentally and physically. Despite being worn out, we feel proud. I constantly stress that you should never lose your professionalism or respect, even in a football game. Even though I didn’t win this time, I was still quite happy to have participated. The boys gave everything they had this season.”
“I was nevertheless happy to return home even if I didn’t win this final after winning the previous five. The young lads offered everything they had,” he continued. “We were under pressure since their team is more talented than ours. We didn’t play poorly and lose. Even when I won, I never returned home with greater pride as I have right now. We put a lot of effort into improving our penalty takers, yet we still missed two.”
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