Europa League final referee Anthony Taylor and his family had to be escorted by security at Budapest airport after outraged Roma fans insulted him and threw a chair in his direction, video posted on the site showed. Gazzetta dello Sport website.
Roma have largely blamed Taylor for their penalty shootout loss to Sevilla in Wednesday’s final. Roma manager José Mourinho lashed out at the referee in his post-match press conference and was later seen insulting Taylor with a series of swear words in the garage of the Puskas Arena in Budapest, Hungary, as his team prepared for leave the stadium.
England’s top-flight soccer referees’ association said in a statement that it “is aware of videos circulating on social media showing Anthony Taylor and his family being harassed and abused at Budapest airport. “We are shocked by the unjustified and abhorrent abuse directed at Anthony and his family as he tries to return home after refereeing the UEFA Europa League final. We will continue to give our full support to Anthony and his family,†the referees association added.
UEFA is still waiting for the match referee’s report. Roma general manager Tiago Pinto continued the attack on Taylor in a statement to Italy’s ANSA news agency on Thursday. “From AS Roma we do not want to raise doubts about the merits of Sevilla. We believe that with our rivals we made a great final and we honor the stage that UEFA offered us in the best way,” Pinto said.
“We don’t usually comment immediately on this type of situation, but in the course of today I have analyzed both the most notorious incidents and the apparently less obvious ones and it is clear that in disciplinary terms the refereeing of the match was not balanced”, he assured.
