A match with Jose Mourinho is always must watch TV and not always for the soccer on the field. Roma drew 2-2 with Hellas Verona after going behind 2-0 within 20 minutes. Antonin Barak opened the scoring in the fifth minute before Adrien Tameze doubled the visitor’s advantage. After laboring through the opening half a youth movement got Roma back into the match. 18-year-old Cristian Volpato scored three minutes after coming on as a Roma corner was pinged to the top of the box for him to volley in.
In the 85th minute, 19-year-old Edoardo Bove scored his first goal for Roma bringing things level. It was another broken corner that after falling to his feet, he was able to fire it into the net as Lorenzo Montipo stood rooted to the spot. But it was deep in stoppage time, as Roma pushed for a winner, when the fireworks began.
After bickering with the officials all match, Mourinho was finally dismissed for the second time this season after making a telephone gesture while protesting a decision. In true Mourinho fashion, he hugged Verona’s coach Igo Tudor before making his rounds leaving the stadium.
Why a telephone gesture? Well, to know for sure we’d have to be inside the Special One’s special brain, but there’s one possible explanation rooted in Serie A’s refereeing history. Mourinho could have been specifically referring to an old Italian refereeing scandal called Calciopoli, where match fixing was uncovered back in 2006 causing Juventus to be stripped of a title and relegated to Serie B among other penalties. The matchday referee for Roma’s match on Saturday, Luca Pairetto’s father was also a referee and he was involved in the scandal.
Roma have now fallen to seventh place and could end the weekend lower in the Serie A standings depending on Fiorentina’s result on Sunday. In a season of ups and downs for Roma, this could be the tipping point as the club tumbles out of European contention.
