Zaniolo makes obscene gestures; Lucas Leiva trolls Mourinho via Twitter

Sunday, September 26, 2021 at 10:58 PM• Dominic Mostert • Last update: 23:04

Nicolò Zaniolo has not made himself popular with the Lazio supporters. After the city derby between Lazio and AS Roma (3-2) supporters of the home team called out to the right winger, who responded with obscene gestures. His reaction was filmed by fans in the stands and then posted on social media.

Zaniolo was awarded a penalty in the second half, when trailing 3-1. He got rid of Jean-Daniel Akpa Akpro in the penalty area and wanted to shoot, but missed and went to the grass. In the eyes of the arbitration, Akpa Akpro committed a violation, but the images showed little of that. Despite this, referee Marco Guida was not called to the screen by his video referee and the penalty kick remained. Jordan Veretout scored, although it wasn’t enough to get a good result from the derby.

Whether the anger among Lazio fans has to do with the penalty incident is not entirely clear. Afterwards, the emotions also ran high with José Mourinho. The Roma coach thought that his team was disadvantaged by the arbitration, despite the incorrect penalty kick. He himself received a yellow card after an hour when he interfered with a Lazio substitution. Mourinho thought Lucas Leiva should have been given a second yellow card when he used the elbow in a duel with Henrikh Mkhitaryan and thought Roma’s 2-0 should have been disallowed.

In Mourinho’s eyes, Elseid Hysaj fouled Zaniolo that should have resulted in a penalty for Roma just before Pedro made it 2-0 on the other side. “Unfortunately, a fantastic match was ruined by the referee and the VAR, who were not of the right level for this match. It could have been 1-1 but instead it was 2-0. Failure to do so will result in the second yellow card. card for Lucas Leiva was also important, because it makes a big difference when you play against ten men.”

Both before and after the game, Mourinho expressed his dissatisfaction with Lorenzo Pellegrini’s absence due to suspension. The midfielder received a second yellow card against Udinese (1-0 win) on Thursday following a similar aerial duel. “Pellegrini got red, Leiva got nothing today,” Mourinho said. The statements were greeted with a smile by Lucas Leiva, who responded with a tweet in which he posted four crying emojis and three pears, ostensibly portraying Lazio’s three goals.