Former Italian ref Paolo Casarin has taken aim at AS Roma coach Jose Mourinho.

Casarin was unhappy with Mourinho calling out ref Matteo Marcenaro before yesterday's win against Sassuolo.

He said on Radio Anch'io Sport: "All those who follow a little the referees know that Marcenaro is the future of Italian refereeing, he is extremely calm, he is not emotional. Evidently Mourinho doesn't know him.

"Yesterday he refereed a match well, without overdoing it, and Roma won with what we know, with an absolutely certain penalty and expulsion. But this happens in most matches."

Casarin continued: "When I see a great coach like Mourinho who before the match says all those things, then it means that there is something that doesn't work. This freedom to criticise first by bringing up things of little content must not be allowed, this stuff must be crushed, it cannot be done. To me these benches seem like a provincial theater, Roma then had four or five different ones (he refers to expulsions). These people no longer have to sit on the bench, and then what's the point of 70 people in total between the two benches?"

He added: "I have 65 years of refereeing and I have seen everything, but I'm sorry. I know that the referees want to talk to coaches and captains by holding these meetings in Coverciano or elsewhere. So on the one hand there is the desire to move forward and on the other a frontal attack in this manner. But do they go to meetings? They listen to what the new rules are such as 'desperately' reducing the fouls, which I don't agree with: matches have the fouls they have."

Casarin concluded: "A great coach never does this stuff, there are no lies he tells like the one about the language (the reference is again to Mourinho, who yesterday did his post-match presser in Portuguese), and you don't go and tell the public 'calm'.

"I remind you that at the World Cup in Italy in '90 everyone had to sit, and (Germany coach Franz) Beckenbauer who had back problems had to obtain special permission to stand."