Jose Mourinho blasts refereeing in Roma draw with Napoli and says it was almost ‘impossible’ to win

An enraged Jose Mourinho hit out at referees once again after his Roma side’s 1-1 draw against Napoli on Monday.

Stephan El Shaarawy scored a stoppage-time equaliser to rescue a late point at the Stadio San Paolo and keep Roma’s slim hopes of reaching fourth spot and automatic qualification for next year’s Champions League alive. 

But an incandescent Mourinho told DAZN it felt almost ‘impossible’ to win and he felt his side did not ‘have the right’ to a fair shot at getting a positive result.

Jose Mourinho has hit out at referees once again after Roma’s 1-1 draw with Napoli on Monday

Stephan El Shaarawy (centre) scored a stoppage-time equaliser to rescue a late point at the Stadio San Paolo and keep Roma’s slim hopes of reaching next year’s Champions League alive

He said: ‘Roma demand the right to be allowed to try to win games. At times, I felt ashamed. It seemed impossible to get a positive result. I celebrated because it seemed impossible during this game to get out of here with a positive result.

‘That’s not because my team did not play well, because we did and improved during the game, but I had the sensation it would be difficult, if not impossible, to leave here with a positive result.’

Roma beat Norwegian side Bodo/Glimt 4-0 on Thursday to win their Europa Conference League tie 5-2 and set up a semi-final against Leicester, a tie which the Portuguese insisted had drained his side, despite making just one change, with Sergio Oliveira replacing Henrikh Mkhitaryan. 

But Mourinho fiercely criticised referee Marco Di Bello (centre) for his officiating in Campania

In Campania, Napoli’s Lorenzo Insigne scored the opener from the penalty spot after a VAR check, with Mourinho also frustrated about Alessandro Zanoli not getting a second yellow card, and Nicolo Zaniolo being denied a penalty.

He added: ‘My team was fantastic this evening. We wanted more, but we achieved what was possible… We still have the right to play and try to win games. Today it seemed like we did not have that right to play in order to win this match.

‘I read also something written by someone with responsibility who said the league will be decided if the referees make errors against the three challenging for the Scudetto (AC Milan, Inter Milan, Napoli)… enough. There ought to be a little respect.’ 

Source: DailyMail Sports