Why Jose Mourinho wore a wire to record referee in Serie A
By Euan Burns
If you were asked who the most entertaining and dramatic manager in football is, you would be forgiven for saying Jose Mourinho. Not only would you be forgiven, you'd probably be spot on.
Mourinho may not be coaching one of Europe's elite sides right now at AS Roma, but that doesn't mean he is behaving normally. While largely successful, he has had a pretty dramatic time back in Serie A over the past two seasons.
His latest antics came against Monza on Wednesday night when the Portuguese coach decided to wear a wire for the entire game, something he only revealed after the game as he unleashed an incredible rant about how bad this particular referee is at his job.
Here is the background on why Mourinho wore a wire and some other dramatic moments he has been a part of this season.
Jose Mourinho's war with Daniele Chiffi
The referee in question for Monza 1-1 Roma on Wednesday night was Daniele Chiffi, a regular referee in Serie A who is often given some of the biggest games. He has been in charge of 13 Serie A games this season, including AC Milan 3-2 Inter, Roma 0-1 Atalanta, Atalanta 2-3 Inter, Juventus 4-2 Torino and Inter 0-1 Juventus.
That Roma defeat against Atalanta was the only Giallorossi game Chiffi had refereed before the match against Monza. In that Atalanta match, Roma felt they should have had a penalty for a foul on Nicolo Zaniolo and while it is not clear what Mourinho said to the officials, he was shown a red card by Chiffi and the coach was apoplectic with rage.
In the Monza match, Mady Camara was shown a second yellow card very late in the game for a challenge where it was clear he had slipped rather than having gone in late. Mourinho made his thoughts on Chiffi clear after the game, revealing he had worn a wire for his own protection.
"I'm not stupid, you know," Mourinho said in his press conference. "Today, I went to the game with a microphone. I recorded everything. From the moment I left the locker room to the moment I returned. I protected myself.
"He is the worst referee I have met in my life. He is the worst. Technically he's horrible. Zero empathy. Zero communication. Zero awareness. A second yellow to a guy who slips in the 96th minute...I stopped working [talking] 20-30 minutes from the end because I knew he would give me a red card for anything. I didn't give him the opportunity, I decided no, that's enough."
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Jose Mourinho's dramatic 2022/23 with AS Roma
This is just one of many instances where Mourinho has made headlines for his unusual behaviour during the current season as pressure to achieve the stated aim for the season of Champions League qualification ramps up.
Fourth official war of words
Roma became the first team all season long to lose against Cremonese back in late February in a game that featured plenty of drama. Mourinho was sent off very late in the match, but it became something more than a standard red card.
He claimed after the game that the fourth official had said something outrageous to him, which is what led to the red card. "For the first time in my career a referee has spoken to me in an unjustifiable way," the coach told a news conference.
"I'm not crazy. And to have the reaction I had is because something happened. I need to know now if I can do something from a legal point of view."
"Piccinini gave me the red because the fourth official told him so. But the fourth official doesn't have the honesty to also tell him what he told me, how he treated me and what provoked my reaction," added Mourinho.
Booing Lazio's youth players
Shortly before that Cremonese game, Mourinho had caused quite a lot of anger in Rome. Il Messaggero reported that the Portuguese coach had attended Lazio-Roma derby between the Under-14 sides of each club.
There is nothing wrong with that, if anything it is good to see.
The issue is that Mourinho is said to have sat behind the Roma bench and booed a Lazio player as they stepped up to take a penalty. He also apparently encouraged the Roma players to feign injuries and waste time late on as they tried to protect their lead.
Mourinho's San Siro bus
In October 2022, Mourinho made headlines for less unsavoury reasons.
He was serving one of his frequent touchline bans when Roma went away to face Inter at San Siro. Rather than watch in a nearby hotel or from the stands, Mourinho did something different.
He decided to stay in the San Siro car park and watch the game from the team bus. He even uploaded a video of himself to Instagram as he watched the game, wildly celebrating Chris Smalling's late winner that made it 2-1 to the Giallorossi. He then got off the bus and filmed the inside to show where he was.
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