Roma boss Jose Mourinho sent off in loss to Cremonese

Roma boss Jose Mourinho was sent off in his side’s Serie A defeat to Cremonese, his third red card of the season.

Mourinho, 60, was sent off two minutes into the second half but said he was provoked by the fourth official.

“I’m emotional but not crazy. For the first time in my career a referee has spoken to me in an unjustifiable way,” said the former Chelsea boss.

“To have the reaction I had is because something happened. I need to know now if I can do something from a disciplinary point of view.”

Mourinho claimed that the fourth official instructed referee Marco Piccinini to show a red card without giving a full description of the touchline incident.

“Unfortunately, the fourth official doesn’t have the honesty to say what he said to me, how he said it and the way he treated me, which obviously triggered my reaction,” said Mourinho after a defeat that left Roma fifth in the Serie A table.

“I want to see if there’s an audio recording of what he said to me.

“I don’t want to get into the fact that he’s from Turin, that we have to play Juventus and he wants me off the touchline. I don’t want to get into that. I want to get into the fact that for the first time in my career, a referee, and in this case a fourth official, spoke to me in an unacceptable way.”

He said he went to the referees’ dressing room after the match but that the fourth official “appears to have forgotten [what he said]”.

“Piccinini saw me come into the dressing room and say to the fourth official: ‘I want you to be honest and say what has happened.’ He appears to have trouble with his memory.”

The former Manchester United manager was sent off in September against Atalanta and in November against Torino, both for outbursts over decisions against his side.

Cremonese’s victory ended a joint-Serie A record of 30 games without a win dating back to 1995-96, their previous season in the top flight.