Mourinho bemoans 'modern football' penalty after Roma's loss to Lazio

Jose Mourinho was not best pleased with VAR after his Roma side crashed out of the Coppa Italia following a 1-0 defeat to Lazio.

The two fierce rivals locked horns at the Stadio Olimpico and as usual, it was a heated affair.

Mattia Zaccagni's 51st-minute penalty secured passage to the semi-finals for Lazio, with Pedro Rodriguez, Sardar Azmoun and Gianluca Mancini all seeing red in second half stoppage time.

Mourinho did not discuss his side's two dismissals after the game and instead criticised the awarding of the spot kick, with VAR declaring Dean Huijsen had fouled Taty Castellanos in the box.

The Roma boss said: "It is always painful to lose the derby. We have real difficulties, we fight constantly against them and in the last few games we did very well.

"Today we lost to what I will call a penalty suited to modern football, one that the referee does not give when he is three metres away and VAR does. 

"This is how the referees are told to act, 20-30 years ago players would never go down the way they do here.

"A penalty ought to be seen as the maximum punishment. The referee was right there and decided not to give the penalty. 

"But when there is someone in front of a screen that calls him for a minimal contact and the player puts on a show following that contact, there's not much he can do.

"I don't want to say it is not a penalty, but this is the situation.

“As well as being a modern penalty, it went against a top kid like Huijsen.

"Historically, this is a top referee who analyses all aspects of the game, but when one team takes the lead then that's the end of the match, because [Daniele] Orsato does not let us play."

Roma's cause was not helped by the premature exit of talisman Paulo Dybala, with Mourinho confirming the playmaker suffered "the usual muscular problem behind the leg".

The Portuguese added: "When you lose Dybala, it all changes. 

"Without Paulo, there is no connection between attack and defence, while the quality level drops."