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Roma manager Jose Mourinho has advised his players to dive more after his side were controversially denied a penalty in their 1-0 defeat to Atalanta in Serie A on Sunday (September 18).
The former Manchester United and Chelsea boss was sent off for dissent after the referee waved away his team's protests. Roma's Nicolo Zaniolo collided with and Atalanta's Caleb Okoli in what appeared to be a foul in the area during the second half.
The hosts were unable to find a way through following Giorgio Scalvini's 35th-minute winner and Mourinho was clearly furious after the encounter. He suggested that his team would have been awarded a spot-kick if Zaniolo had gone down.
The Portuguese boss told reporters (as per ESPN):
"There was a very clear penalty. I asked the referee afterwards why, and asked him to be clear with me that it was because Zaniolo did not go down."
"So, therefore, I have to change my advice to my players, I have to tell them don't try to stay on your feet, don't play the ball, be a clown the way many who dive like they're in a swimming pool do in this league because that is evidently how you get penalties."
Jose Mourinho frustrated by Roma's home defeat to Atalanta in Serie A
The Giallorossi are now sixth in the table after winning four out of their first seven league games. Paulo Dybala, who has made a bright start to life in the Italian capital, missed the Atalanta fixture after pulling up in the warm-up.
Roma missed the creative Argentine as they failed to find a killer ball to unlock a stubborn defense. After the game, Mourinho stated:
"It went badly because we lost a game that we should've won easily, considering the way we played. If we can imagine this domination we had in the final third, with many chances created, we can speculate that with Paulo on the field it might've been different."
Big things are expected of Mourinho's side as they have made important signings to create an excellent squad. Dybala was a marquee free signing from Juventus but the injury to on-loan midfielder Gini Wijnaldum certainly wouldn't have helped their prospects.
Roma won the Europa Conference League last term, which was their first-ever major European honor and their first trophy in 14 years.
