Daniel Ciofani scored a late penalty as relegation-threatened Cremonese earned their first win of the season in a 2-1 home victory over AS Roma in Serie A on Tuesday that left Jose Mourinho’s side outside the top four.
The win was Cremonese’s first in Italy’s top league since March 1996.
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Cremonese took a surprise lead in the 17th minute with a fine first-time shot by forward Frank Tsadjout from just outside the box.
Roma, whose coach Mourinho was sent off for dissent at the start of second half, equalised in the 71st minute when Leonardo Spinazzola controlled the ball nicely on the edge of the box and finished low past Cremonese keeper Marco Carnesecchi.
But Ciofani restored Cremonese’s lead from the spot in the 83rd minute when he struck into the bottom left corner past Roma goalkeeper Rui Patricio, who had fouled David Okereke to concede the penalty.
“For the first time in my career a referee has spoken to me in an unjustifiable way,” Mourinho said after the game. “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.”
Roma are fifth on 44 points, one point behind fourth-placed Lazio and three above Atalanta in sixth.
Cremonese’s first win of the season moved them up one place to 19th, eight points adrift of the safety zone.
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AS Roma coach Jose Mourinho said he was provoked by the fourth official in the incident that led to his sending off in their 2-1 Serie A defeat to relegation-threatened Cremonese on Tuesday.
Cremonese claimed their first win of the season as Daniel Ciofani’s late penalty left Mourinho’s side out of the Champions League spots in fifth place in the standings.
Mourinho, who was given his marching orders by referee Marco Piccinini at the start of the second half for dissent, said his reaction was caused by his treatment from the fourth official.
Roma are fifth in the table with 44 points, one point behind fourth-placed Lazio. Cremonese, who won their first Serie A game of the season, moved up one place to 19th.
“We didn’t deserve to lose,” Mourinho said.
“The excuse of tiredness does not exist… The responsibility is ours, for a lack of intensity, lack of desire to close the game immediately.”
“We paid too high a price, we didn’t deserve to win but we didn’t deserve to lose either. Especially for what we put in the second half, after the equaliser, we all thought we could win and then came the penalty episode.”