AS Roma manager Jose Mourinho expressed his dissatisfaction with English referee Anthony Taylor following the team’s loss to Sevilla in the 2022/23 UEFA Europa League final. Mourinho criticized Taylor’s refereeing style, suggesting that he seemed more lenient towards Sevilla, making the game feel like a Spanish affair. The match saw a record-breaking 14 yellow cards issued by Taylor, the highest number in a Europa League game.
In a post-match interview with Sky Sports, Mourinho described the final as intense and vibrant but expressed his disappointment with the referee’s performance. He stated that such refereeing is hard to accept in a European final. Sevilla eventually emerged victorious, winning their seventh UEFA Europa League title by defeating AS Roma 4-1 in a penalty shootout.
During the press conference, Mourinho further criticized Taylor’s decisions, labeling them a scandal. He pointed out that Roma players were booked for similar actions that went unpunished for Sevilla players. Mourinho even confronted Taylor in the car park after the match, calling him “a disgrace.”
Mourinho specifically mentioned incidents involving Pellegrini and Ocampos, where the former received a yellow card for a fall in the box, while the latter committed a similar action but escaped punishment. The manager criticized the inconsistency in Taylor’s decisions, noting that VAR intervened in the Ocampos incident but did not result in a booking.
Despite the disappointment of losing the final, AS Roma secured a sixth-place finish in Serie A, ensuring their participation in the UEFA Europa League for the following season. Winning the final would have granted them direct entry to the UEFA Champions League.