Hero Mourinho! AS Rome got punished for racism of fans. The union admitted that if not for the intervention of the Portuguese coach, it would have been higher

AS Rome comfortably defeated Sampdoria Genoa 3-0 at the weekend, but with an unpleasant blemish in the form of racism from the Roman fans. Now the club has been punished and can be happy to have Jose Mourinho as coach. Thanks to him, the fine is lower than it could have been.

Jose Mourinho, the hero of AS Roma? Although not everything is rosy, in fact it is. His arrival alone has injected a lot of energy into the club that still hasn’t dissipated. He also won a trophy in his first season, and a European one at that, when he won the Conference League.

This season, the Portuguese is leading his team in a tough fight for the Champions League and so far he is doing decently in the Europa League as well. However, the fight for the millionaire competition is not easy. In the Italian league, there is a huge battle for places in the top four of the table.

But Rome took another important step on Sunday, gaining the more or less obligatory three points against a struggling Sampdoria Genoa, who will have their work cut out to save their top-flight affiliation. AS won comfortably 3-0 at home.

But the win was marred by racist chants. Rome fans tried to insult the Genoa coach. The coach is none other than Dejan Stankovic, a legend of Serbian football.

Stankovic has played under Mourinho in the past. In 2010, they won the legendary treble together at Inter Milan. In total, the Serbian played 81 games under the Portuguese coach, in which he scored 10 goals and added 10 assists.

Therefore, it was no surprise when right during the match Mourinho reacted to the racism with a clear gesture. And it had an effect. The fans listened to him. He himself then described Stankovic as a great man and friend, who thanked him afterwards.

And now AS Rome can thank him too. The club did not escape punishment for racism, but thanks to Mourinho it is less than it could have been. The Romans were fined €8,000. “The sanction is mitigated because the chants were not repeated after the active intervention of coach Mourinho,” the statement read.

Source: Football-Italia, FIGC