In a fiery fixture that saw Atalanta register a hard-fought 1-0 win over Roma, the footballing action took a backseat as Jose Mourinho's antics garnered all the headlines. Roma's manager was shown a straight red card in the second half and was asked to leave the dugout as he failed to keep his emotions in check.
The incident occurred when Roma was denied a penalty in the 55h minute when Nicolo Zaniolo went over under a challenge from Caleb Okoli. Mourinho, fuming with anger and frustration, walked onto the pitch in order to make his intentions clear.
Replays suggested both players were grappling at each other's shirt long before Zaniolo went to ground, and referee Daniele Chiffi waved away the appeals.
Mourinho joined his players in protesting against the decision, running onto the pitch and shouting and pointing at Chiffi, before the referee brandished the red card his way.
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"I tried to speak to Chiffi after the game," said Mourinho after the game.
"If a referee tells me that it can never be a penalty if a player does not fall over, then I will have to start telling my players to fall over. I asked him to tell me why he had not given a penalty, but Chiffi did not give me a clear answer.
"Well, he said that it was a matter of interpretation. But for me it's not interpretation; it's a penalty and that's it. The player can still continue the action and then they can go back and give a penalty.
"I want to be the best coach I can be – if we need to instead start playing the clown and pretend that we are at the swimming pool, then I will change the training we do."
Giorgio Scalvini scored the game's only goal in the 35th minute, a smart side-footed strike from the edge of the penalty area that arrowed through a crowd of players and found the bottom-right corner.
Roma have now lost two of their past three Serie A matches, as many defeats as they had suffered in the previous 21 (11W, 8D), and they sit sixth in the table after seven rounds of the season.
(With Opta Inputs)
