Does UEFA have the right to punish players and managers for criticizing referees?

By: Zaidu Hashim

 AS Roma manager Jose Mourinho was recently banned AGAIN by UEFA for what they say was abuse on Anthony Taylor. This was after Roma were denied a penalty in the Europa League finals against Sevilla. 

Does UEFA have the right?

There have been on numerous occasions where football bodies have come out to apologize to teams for daylight robberies on the football pitch. Everton were denied a clear cut penalty against Manchester City and Arsenal were denied a clear goal which probably affected their title push. All those teams got was a gentle sorry but managers lost their jobs and teams lost their titles. 

Is there corruption in football?

Over the years, several things has happened in football which looked very fishy. Chelsea 2009 loss to Barcelona in the Stamford Bridge after they were denied about 4 penalties during the game, Real Madrid’s last minute penalty against Juventus in the champions league, Argentina’s two World Cup wins amongst others. We’ve had referees sacked, demoted or prisoned for dubious performances. If so, why then do they deny managers the freedom to suspect referees for dubious performances. History has proven them right. 

Anthony Taylor pointed to his shoulder after the ball had hit the Sevilla player on his hand. People make mistakes but VAR was introduced to correct them. Will that decision had stood if it was Barcelona, Manchester United or another elite club. Several years ago, Manchester United were given a penalty against PSG after a Dalot wayward shot deflected off the hand of Kimpembe. Per the circumstances, Anthony Taylor wouldn't have given it   

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Investigative journalist Ana’s from Ghana captured several referees taking bribes, Barcelona are still under investigation for allegedly bribing referees, Juventus were punished for manipulating matches through match fixing and bribing referees. If the opposition managers of those teams had protested against the referees, they would have been punished by UEFA.