Mourinho sent off as tempers boil over in Roma friendly

Roma head coach Jose Mourinho has been sent off as tempers boiled over in the 5-2 pre-season friendly defeat to Real Betis on Saturday.

The former Tottenham, Chelsea and Manchester United boss stormed on to the pitch and approached the referee to protest a dubious Betis goal.

The incident occurred with the match at 2-2 with Alex Moreno awkwardly netting for Betis appearing to use his arm, but the referee did not disallowed the goal prompting Mourinho’s strong reaction despite the friendly’s relative insignificance.

Mourinho was red carded for his actions along with Lorenzo Pellegrini before Roma had two more players and two more assistant coaches dismissed and conceded two more goals to lose 5-2.

The Portuguese took over at Roma in the off-season, as the Giallorossi look to improve on last season’s seventh-place finish in Serie A.

Roma commence their 2021-22 Serie A campaign against Fiorentina on Sunday 22 August.

The hosts take the lead again through Alex Moreno – although the players aren’t happy with the decision to award it, as there appeared to be a handball as he bundled it over the lines.

Pellegrini is then sent off after picking up a second yellow card.
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— AS Roma English (@ASRomaEN) August 7, 2021