Lazio did not take kindly José Mourinho attacking them for what happened late in the Spezia tilt: “The fact that, in 2022, the coach of another team, during his pressers, repeatedly refers to alleged favors to one of their contenders and that pundits, whose allegiance is well-known, vehemently argue on the same topic, forgetting their role and their duty to be impartial, corroborates a few things.”
“First of all, Lazio are obsessively in their thoughts more than other ambitious professional goals. As it often happens, you look at other sides to divert the attention from underwhelming results and glaring episodes in your favor. Despite the need to improve the image of Italian football, some of its parts have not moved past the accusations against referees and the VAR. This offensive attitude towards them and the lack of journalistic integrity is too often overlooked.”
“The club rejects any criticism or insinuations. We believe that the real values are proven on the pitch and not on TV. We will never be the anybody’s alibis or scapegoats. If necessary, we will assert our views in the proper seats.”
Lazio cited previous controversies to reply to Mourinho: “We do not argue the decisions even when there are evident mistakes against us, for instance Sandro Tonali fouling Francesco Acerbi in Lazio-Milan, or Roger Ibanez elbowing Sergej Milinkovic-Savic in the Derby. Those were key errors, but we respect the referees and the VAR differently from others.” The whole officiating crew of the Spezia game has been suspended till the end of the season, Ansa reports.