Cremonese already won against AS Roma this season in the Coppa Italia’s quarterfinals and Ballardini becomes the fifth manager to beat Mourinho in three different competitions, as he also won the Supercoppa Italiana back in 2009 when he was in charge at Lazio and the Portuguese coach was at Inter.
Mourinho was sent off when AS Roma were losing 1-0 after the opening goal scored by Frank Tsadjout. It was unclear what happened on the sideline, but it was Mourinho himself who explained what took place.
“I’m emotional but not a madman,” Mourinho told DAZN. “Something happened which explains my reaction. I have to understand if I can do something from a legal point of view. Piccinini gave me the red card, because, unfortunately, the fourth official doesn’t have the ability to say what he said to me. I want to understand if there is an audio recording of what happened.”
Here’s video of what took place and you can clearly see Mourinho having a stern talking to with the official, though it remains unclear what exactly he said to warrant a red:
After Mourinho was sent off, Leonardo Spinazzola equalized before striker Daniel Ciofani scored the winning penalty in the final minutes of the match. Roma are currently fifth in the table, one point behind Lazio that are fourth as things stand. On Sunday, Mourinho’s team will face Juventus at the Stadio Olimpico for what is expected to be a crucial clash for the Champions League race.