Highlights
- Jose Mourinho publicly criticised a player’s attitude in an extraordinary post-match interview after a 1-1 draw between Roma and Sassuolo in November 2022.
- The player Mourinho was referring to was right-back Rick Karsdorp, who was accused of losing challenges, misplacing crosses, and failing to defend properly.
- Karsdorp faced consequences for his performance, including being left out of the squad for several games, facing criticism from fans, and dealing with emotional stress caused by the situation.
Jose Mourinho once gave an extraordinary post-match interview after his AS Roma side drew 1-1 with Sassuolo in November 2022. The Portuguese boss was particularly unhappy with one first-team player in the wake of the game.
Roma appeared to have won the match away from home when Tammy Abraham scored with just 10 minutes remaining. However, Mourinho’s side proceeded to throw away two points by allowing Andrea Pinamonti to equalise in the 85th minute.
Dropping two precious points that night was all too much for Mourinho. The legendary tactician isn’t a stranger to sensational interviews, but the one he gave after the match certainly made headlines.
He didn’t hold back
Mourinho threw one player under the bus for his attitude. The Special One wasn’t in the mood for taking prisoners as he publicly called out the player, saying:
“I am sorry that the efforts of the team were betrayed by the attitude of one unprofessional player. You didn’t see me talking that way about Roger Ibanez against Lazio, because errors are part of the game, his attitude was never a problem.
“An unprofessional attitude that is not fair to his teammates, that is what disappoints me. I had 16 players on the field tonight, and I liked the attitude of 15 of them.
“The other player, I won’t say who it is, but he betrayed everyone else’s effort. In January, he needs to find himself another club.”
The explosive rant led to everyone wondering which player Mourinho was talking about. Fans would have been watching back the match wondering who was at fault for Sassuolo’s equaliser. While the manager refused to name the player publicly, it didn’t take long for reports in Italy to emerge revealing the player’s identity.
According to Sky Italia, per Get Italian Football News, the player was right-back Rick Karsdorp. That was backed up by Corriere dello Sport at the time. It’s never pleasant for a footballer to be on the end of a public slating from their boss, and it’s likely Mourinho made his feelings known to the defender in private, too.
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What Rick Karsdorp Did Wrong
The full-back lost his man
Karsdorp, a 29-year-old Dutch defender, came on in the 65th minute with the scores still level at 0-0. According to Football Italia, he ‘lost several challenges, misplaced crosses and did not defend well when Armand Laurienté broke away to set up Pinamonti’.
In fact, looking at Sassuolo’s equaliser, Karsdorp’s defending does need to be questioned as he fails to track his man. Karsdorp joined Roma from Feyenoord in 2017 for €16 million and was under contract until 2025. However, Mourinho’s outburst suggested the full-back would have to find a new club just two months after the incident. View the highlights of the game below:
What Happened to Rick Karsdorp
Things turned ugly in the wake of the incident
Did Mourinho stick to his word and sell Karsdorp in January? Well, the answer is no, but he certainly didn’t immediately forgive him either. For the next eight league games, Karsdorp didn’t even make the Roma squad and was left out completely by his boss as punishment for his ‘betrayal’.
Roma Ultras turned up outside his house and he was attacked on social media following Mourinho’s comments. It resulted in a series of unsavoury events where Karsdorp missed training and failed to join his teammates on a mid-season trip to Japan.
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The club wanted to fine the defender more than 5% of his monthly salary, set as a maximum limit by the rules for fines. However, Karsdorp explained his absence from training with health reasons, mentioning emotional stress caused by the behaviour of Roma fans. In December, a month after the match against Sassuolo, FIFPRO felt they needed to release a statement about the treatment of Karsdorp by Roma.
FIFPRO’s Statement on Roma’s Treatment of Karsdorp
The governing body condemned the abuse Karsdorp received
The statement started with the organisation stating their disapproval of the way the player had been treated. It read: “FIFPRO strongly condemns AS Roma’s treatment of Rick Karsdorp, who in recent weeks has been the victim of a mobbing campaign.”
The strongly worded public address would then continue to say:
“Karsdorp has been accused in public of being a ‘traitor’, a hurtful and baseless term that club management has failed to address or apologise for, and fans have repeatedly used to confront him and his family.
“Furthermore, he has been made the subject of an unjustified disciplinary case. These acts apparently are a way to deflect from the club’s poor recent performances and aimed to put unjustified pressure on the player.
“Such behaviour is incompatible with the
FIFA Regulations on the Status and Transfer of Players
. Rick Karsdorp has the full support of both FIFPRO and Dutch players’ union VVCS.”
VVCS Director and FIFPRO board member Louis Everard said: “It is obviously not the first time that we hear about players being used as scapegoats to deflect the attention from the performance and management of clubs. It is not acceptable for a club to isolate one player and treat him differently from his teammates.”
General Secretary of FIFPRO Jonas Baer-Hoffmann said: “It cannot be stressed enough that players are first and foremost employees of their clubs and that, as such, clubs have a duty of care towards them. We call on AS Roma to immediately comply with that duty of care and ensure that Rick Karsdorp is treated fairly, and that his rights are respected.”
Karsdorp’s lawyer, Salvatore Civale explained: “This whole thing started because someone very famous at Roma had the wrong attitude, and he is not at all new to this sort of thing, specifically Jose Mourinho. When these comments to the media come from someone of his calibre and fame, unfortunately that generates a hostile atmosphere around a player, as you heard he was attacked by Roma fans in an airport and on social media.”
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That statement from FIFPRO didn’t exactly change Mourinho’s mind, and it wasn’t until February that he was reinstated back into the first-team squad. But Karsdorp clearly won Mourinho around and he appeared in four consecutive league games. But, in March, he suffered a serious knee injury that would rule him out until the end of the season.
No transfer away from the club was sanctioned and the player went on to outlast his manager. Mourinho was sacked by Roma in January 2024 and Karsdorp is still an active member of the squad. The defender made 28 appearances in all competitions in the 2023/24 season, although it’s yet to be seen what his future holds beyond summer 2024.
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All statistics in this article are courtesy of Transfermarkt (Correct as of 04/06/2024)
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