UEFA hit Mourinho’s assistant Foti with three-game European ban

Jose Mourinho’s assistant coach at Roma, Salvatore Foti, has been handed a three-game suspension by UEFA following violent behaviour during the second leg of the Europa League quarter-final second leg against Feyenoord in April.

Foti was deemed to have punched Feyenoord’s Mexican forward Santiago Gimenez as the Giallorossi fought back to secure a 4-2 aggregate win to qualify for the semis.

The assistant served the first game of his suspension during Thursday evening’s match against Bayer Leverkusen, from which the Giallorossi took home a 1-0 victory thanks to Edoardo Bove’s 63rd minute strike.

For Foti, however, the Europa League journey is already over. In the event that Roma get past Bayer Leverkusen and qualify for the final, the 34-year-old will still be suspended.

#Roma: la Uefa stanga Foti, il vice di #Mourinho: 3 turni di squalifica in #EuropaLeague https://t.co/202YcVzN8P

— calciomercato.com (@cmdotcom) May 12, 2023

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Mourinho himself was also given a yellow card during the quarter-final against Leverkusen, whilst UEFA also fined Roma €56,000 for reported crowd trouble and for launching firecrackers onto the pitch.

Foti had also previously been handed a one-month ban by the FIGC in Italy back in February for making ‘insults and threats’ towards the referee and opposition directors during the 2-1 loss to Cremonese in the Coppa Italia.

He will, however, be back on the bench for Roma’s upcoming Serie A fixture against Thiago Motta’s Bologna, which kicks off at 17.00 UK time on Sunday evening.