Mourinho blasts ref and VAR after Roma lose to Lazio
ROME: Jose Mourinho blamed the referee and VAR for Roma’s 3-2 defeat to rivals Lazio in Serie A, saying his side were dominant despite the result.
It was the Portuguese manager’s second loss since taking charge of the Italian side in the summer, and Lazio led from the 10th minute until the final whistle.
However, Mourinho was unhappy about a potential foul in the build-up to Lazio’s second goal, scored by former Roma winger Pedro after 19 minutes, and felt Lucas Leiva should have received a second booking after seeing Roma captain Lorenzo Pellegrini sent off against Udinese on Thursday.
“Italian football has improved a lot. But unfortunately, the referee and VAR were not at the right level for this fantastic match,” Mourinho told DAZN.
“On the 2-0 goal it could have been 1-1, the referee and VAR made a mistake. This is too much. The lack of a second yellow for Leiva is also important. It was a similar situation to Pellegrini, he got a red but today there was nothing.
“We were the best team on the pitch. Obviously when you concede three goals, something has gone wrong, but the second and third were counter-attacks.
“We tried, we dominated. We gave everything and put Lazio in difficulty.”
Meanwhile, Juventus will have to face Chelsea in the Champions League without Paulo Dybala after the Argentina forward limped off with a thigh injury early in their 3-2 win over Sampdoria.
Dybala opened the scoring with nine minutes on the clock with Leonardo Bonucci and Manuel Locatelli netting the other goals to move Juve ninth on eight points, but soon afterwards the 27-year-old left the field in tears after the latest in a long line of injuries.
Massimiliano Allegri’s side host European champions Chelsea tomorrow and the coach said Dybala and centre-forward Alvaro Morata, who also exited with a thigh problem, would be out of action until after the next international break which runs from after next weekend’s matches to Oct 15. — Agencies