Man City boss Pep Guardiola says he feels “so sorry” for referee Anthony Taylor after he was subjected to abuse from Roma fans and the club’s manager Jose Mourinho following the Europa League final.
Sevilla edged past the Italian side on penalties following a 1-1 draw to win the competition for a seventh time in what was a feisty game, with Taylor handing out 13 yellow cards to players and several more to members of the coaching staff.
After the game, Mourinho publicly criticised the Premier League official for his performance, saying: “This is a European final, and with this kind of refereeing, it is hard to accept.
“If we talk now about the many referee-related situations, not two or three, there are many of them.
“I am a bit tired of being the coach, the manager, communications man, of being the face that says we have been robbed.
“Since Taylor is a great referee, let’s hope he will only be in the Champions League and I hope his blunders will only be in the Champions League and not the Europa League.”
A video then emerged following the game of Mourinho shouting at Taylor in the stadium car park as he left, with the Roma boss heard calling Taylor a “f****** disgrace”.
He has now been charged by UEFA with using insulting/abusive language against a match official.
And ahead of Man City’s FA Cup final against rivals Man Utd, Guardiola was asked for his thoughts on what happened.
“I’m so sorry for the images I saw and for Anthony Taylor,” he said.
“I’m so sorry, hopefully it doesn’t happen again. That’s all I can say.”
Roma have backed their manager following their final defeat with general manager Tiago Pinto telling Italian media on Thursday: “We at AS Roma don’t want to raise doubts about Sevilla’s merits. We believe that with our opponents we put on a great final and honoured the stage offered to us by UEFA in the best way.
“We don’t usually comment about these types of situations but we’ve analysed both the most glaring incidents and those seemingly less evident and it is clear that in disciplinary terms the refereeing of the match was not balanced.”
