Drama as Jose Mourinho Marches onto The Pitch to Demand Red Card for Rival Player During Roma Friendly Clash

Drama as Jose Mourinho Marches onto The Pitch to Demand Red Card for Rival Player During Roma Friendly Clash

Fred Kennedy
updated at April 12, 2023 at 8:06 PM
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  • Jose Mourinho stole the headlines during his Roma side’s friendly meeting with Sunderland on Wednesday, July 13
  • Mourinho was the point of discussion on social media after he stormed the pitch during the clash in an attempt to get Sunderland’sside’s Luke O’Nien sent off
  • The veteran manager was angered by O’Nien’s rash challenge on one of his Roma players during the first half of the match
  • Roma went on to win the tie 2-0, with Felix Afena-Gyan and Nicolo Zaniolo finding the back of the net later in the second half

Roma boss Jose Mourinho caused a scene during his side’s friendly clash against Championship side Sunderland after he entered the pitch to demand a red card be shown to a rival player.

The match staged at the Estádio Municipal de Albufeira saw the reigning Europa Conference League winners outclass the English side to secure a 2-0 hard-fought win.

Jose Mourinho, AS Roma, Luke O'Nien, Roger Ibanez, Sunderland, Serie A.
Roma manager Jose Mourinho walks onto the pitch after one of his players was injured during a pre-season friendly match between AS Roma and Sunderland. Photo by Ian Horrocks.
Source: Getty Images

Felix Afena-Gyan and Nicolo Zaniolo were both on target for the Italian giants, with two goals coming late in the second half of the encounter.

But the match was not short of drama, with Sportbible reporting that Mourinho stormed the pitch in the dying minutes of the first half to demand a red card for Sunderland’s Luke O’Nien.

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Jose Mourinho angered after Luke O’Nien’s challenge on Roma star

Mourinho is said to have lost his cool in the 40th minute of the friendly after O’Nien put in a heavy challenge on Roma star Roger Ibanez.

Aggrieved by the rash tackle, the ex-Premier League boss led his technical bench in entering the pitch as Ibanez received treatment from the medical staff.

The Mirror claims that Mourinho decided to enter the pitch to have O’Nien handed his marching orders for the challenge.

However, the referee only showed O’Nien a yellow card before the Sunderland ace was eventually substituted.

Jose Mourinho slams Roma chiefs for lack of transfer activity

Earlier, Sports Brief reported that Jose Mourinho has revealed his dissatisfaction with the Roma hierarchy as the Serie A club is struggling to make some additions to his team ahead of the 2022/23 football.

Roma lost some key first-team players this summer, with the likes of Henrikh Mkhitaryan, Alessandro Florenzi, Robin Olsen and Cengiz Under all leaving the Serie A club.

Mourinho has now disclosed he is frustrated with Roma’s lack of activity in the transfer market as he has only made three new additions to his squad despite his numerous targets.

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Fred Kennedy
Fred Kennedy has a Bachelor's degree in journalism (Daystar University), currently working as a Sports Editor. He has more than five years of experience in digital journalism.
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