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Roma coach Mourinho accepts Lazio Coppa win: But the penalty wasn't there 10-20 years ago

Roma coach Jose Mourinho says Lazio deserved their Coppa Italia quarterfinal win.

A successful Mattia Zacagni penalty was enough for Lazio to win 1-0 on Wednesday night.

Mourinho later said: "The match was decided by an episode that I call a penalty of modern times, a penalty that 10/20 years ago wasn't there, Var's penalty, the referee 5 metres away says it's not there but another referee says it's a penalty.

"I don't want to say that there isn't, because I can't say it, there is minimal contact which outside the penalty area is not a foul, but inside, which is the area of maximum jurisdiction of the great risk and big game decisions, a penalty like this is given.

"It's a match where I think we were stronger, better in the first half, then without Paulo (Dybala) everything changes. He changed against Fiorentina who could have finished 3-0 and he changed today because without him the connection, the possession, the timing, the creation is lost, it cannot be denied, it is a reality.

"We concede goals with the penalty of modern times but the action before it ends with the corner kick is our throw-in, it's ridiculous the way we lost that ball there.

"And after that there is clearly no more match, there is no ball, there is no playing time. There is a very intelligent referee who dominates the dynamics, the timing very well, he doesn't want messes or situations of doubt. We risked a lot with two great chances at the end of the match with (Romelu) Lukaku and (Andrea) Belotti and we lost a match that in my opinion was '"whoever scores wins' and and we didn't score."

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Carlos Volcano

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