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21st September 2023
03:40pm BST
Jose Mourinho has refused to acknowledge that his Roma side were beaten in the Europa League final last season.
Roma lost on penalties to Sevilla as the Spanish side won the competition for a record seventh time but Mourinho was left incensed after feeling hard done by the decisions of referee, Anthony Taylor.
Mourinho was subsequently handed a four-match ban for his outburst, which included the former Chelsea boss waiting in the car park for the official, and was caught on camera calling Taylor a "f*****g disgrace".
Several Roma fans also hounded Taylor - who dished out 13 yellow cards in the final - and his family when travelling home after the final.
Three months on though and it seems like Mourinho isn't any closer to admitting to defeat.
He said: "I will continue to say until the bitter end that we did not lose that final in Budapest. Every time people talk to me about it, I will tell them that we did not lose.
"Having said that, today we start from scratch and the first objective is to qualify for the next phase. Last year we started the group with a defeat and that complicated matters, having to go through the play-offs, so winning the group would obviously be important."
The Serie A side in a group alongside Slavia Prague of the Czech Republic, Sheriff Tiraspol of Moldova and Servette from Switzerland and are one of the favourites to get out of the group.
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