“I put the microphone on to protect myself, but I couldn’t shut up.” Mourinho gets punished again!

Roma coach Jose Mourinho has been handed a new punishment as his side miss the start of the new Italian league 2023/2024 season.

The Portugal coach was suspended by the Italian federation on May 3 for his anger at referee Daniel Xavi against his team’s 1-1 draw at Monza.

Mourinho revealed he was wearing a microphone during the match in an attempt to protect himself, but he couldn’t control his tongue.

Mourinho said of Xavi’s performance after the match: “I’m not stupid, you know that day, I took the microphone and went to the match, I recorded everything from the time I came out of the dressing room until I came back. To protect myself, I stopped talking half an hour before the end of the match, because I knew he would give me a red card for anything, so I didn’t give him a chance, but in the end I didn’t have enough. In the 96th minute he gives a red card to a player who goes down for overwork.

Mourinho will sit out next season’s opener in Rome, while he has been fined €50,000 and his club have also been hit with a similar fine.

The 60-year-old was sent off twice in the space of a week after receiving three red cards in the 2022/23 season as UEFA banned him for four matches in European competition for his outburst at England referee Anthony Taylor after his side’s penalty shootout. Defeated by Sevilla in the Europa League final.