'The worst': Mourinho banned for extraordinary ref spray

AS Roma coach Jose Mourinho has been handed a 10-day suspension for the start of the Serie A season for comments he made about an Italian referee.

The ban from the Italian football federation means Mourinho will miss Roma's opening match next season and will likely also miss the team's second game, depending on when the matches are scheduled.

Mourinho was punished for claiming Daniele Chiffi was "the worst referee I have ever seen in my life" after Roma's 1-1 draw at Monza on May 3.

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"He is the worst. Technically he's horrible. Zero empathy. Zero communication. Zero awareness," he said after the match.

"A second yellow to a guy who slips in the 96th minute… I stopped (talking) 20-30 minutes from the end because I knew he would give me a red card for anything."

Jose Mourinho, Head Coach of AS Roma, reacts during the UEFA Europa League 2022/23 final match between Sevilla FC and AS Roma at Puskas Arena on May 31, 2023 in Budapest, Hungary. (Photo by Naomi Baker/Getty Images)

In the same media conference, Mourinho revealed he had been wearing a microphone "in an effort to protect himself", possibly after a separate spray at a match official early in the second half of Roma's shock 2-1 away loss to Cremonese in March.

Mourinho was sent off for making the comments to the fourth official, which he claimed had spoken to him "in an unacceptable way".

For that infraction, Mourinho was banned for two games and fined $15,800.

This latest sanction has seen the Portuguese coach fined another $83,000, as was Roma.

The 60-year-old Mourinho was also banned for four matches by UEFA last week for abusing English referee Anthony Taylor at the Europa League final on May 31.

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