AS Roma fans have been condemned by the body responsible for match officials in England after videos showed them harassing Europa League final referee Anthony Taylor at Budapest Airport following their defeat to Sevilla on Wednesday.
Videos posted on social media Thursday showed outraged Roma supporters directing insults and throwing a chair in Taylor’s direction as he and his family were escorted by airport security.
Roma were beaten by Sevilla in a penalty shootout in Budapest, after which Taylor was heavily criticised and angrily confronted by the Italian club’s manager Jose Mourinho.
The Professional Game Match Officials Limited called the treatment of the Premier League referee “abhorrent.”
“PGMOL is aware of videos circulating on social media showing Anthony Taylor and his family being harassed and abused at Budapest Airport.” they wrote in a statement.
“We are appalled at the unjustified and abhorrent abuse directed at Anthony and his family as he tries to make his way home from refereeing the UEFA Europa League final. We will continue to provide our full support to Anthony and his family.”
The incident at the airport came after video showed Mourinho swearing at Taylor in the Puskas Arena car park and calling him a “f—ing disgrace.”
The Portuguese coach fumed at Taylor in his postmatch news conference for not awarding a penalty kick to Roma for a perceived handball during the second half — as well as a number of other decisions he said the referee mishandled.
The final was an ill-tempered affair on both sides, with Taylor brandishing a total of 14 yellow cards — a record for a Europa League match.
“The referee seemed like he was Spanish,” Mourinho said. “The result was not fair, and there are a lot of instances to reexamine.”
Having also received a yellow card during the match, Mourinho could be hit with a multi-match ban from future European games. UEFA is waiting on the referee’s match report before deciding whether to take any action against Mourinho.
Roma general manager Tiago Pinto continued the attack on Taylor in a statement to Italian news agency ANSA 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 honored the stage offered to us by UEFA in the best way,” Pinto said.
“We don’t usually comment immediately about these types of situations but over the course of today we’ve analyzed 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.”
Information from the Associated Press was used in this report.
