Mourinho: Referees And VAR Are Not At The Right Level For This Fantastic Game

Jose Mourinho among AS Roma players after losing the Derby della Capitale (Twitter @ASRomaEN)

JAKARTA - Jose Mourinho blamed the referee and VAR for AS Roma's 2-3 defeat to city rivals Lazio in the Derby della Capitale on Sunday local time. The Portuguese coach said, his team was dominant even though the results of the match spoke differently.

It was Mourinho's second defeat since taking charge of the Giallorossi last summer.

Defeat at the Olimpico.#ASRoma #LazioRoma pic.twitter.com/ldYniwR3gB

— AS Roma English (@ASRomaEN) September 26, 2021

Lazio led from the 10th minute of the first half until the final whistle sounded to complete this round.

Mourinho was unhappy at a potential foul during Lazio's second goal scored by former Roma winger Pedro in the 19th minute.

He felt Lucas Leiva should have been shown a second yellow card after seeing Roma captain Lorenzo Pellegrini sent off against Udinese three days earlier.

“Italian football has improved a lot. It's just a shame the referee and VAR weren't at the right level for such a fantastic match," Mourinho told DAZN.

"At 2-0 it could have been 1-1, the referee and VAR made mistakes. This is too often. Not being given a second yellow card for Leiva is also a problem. The situation is similar to Pellegrini, he got a red card but today nothing happened. what."

"We were the best team in the game. Obviously when you concede three goals things go wrong, but the second and third were on the counter-attack."

"We've tried, we've dominated. We gave everything and made it difficult for Lazio."

"We showed quality, we showed heart, we showed team spirit. Maybe you don't agree with me, but we deserved a different result from this game."#ASRoma #LazioRoma

— AS Roma English (@ASRomaEN) September 26, 2021

Fourth-placed Roma next in Serie A will face Zorya in the Conference League on Thursday, before hosting Empoli in the league clash.