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Life certainly seemed stressful for referee Anthony Taylor post the Europa League Final. The English referee received major backlash for his decisions during the June 1 game, where Roma lost to Sevilla on penalties. Fans of the losing side then took their frustration outside the pitch.
Video footage posted on June 2, showed Taylor, who was traveling with his wife and daughter, getting physically and verbally harassed by a mob of angry AS Roma fans at the Budapest Airport.
The footage was originally posted by @momo50SSL on Twitter and was later reposted on multiple sites, leaving Netizens exasperated. Individuals on Twitter and Reddit called the Roma fans' behavior, "disgusting" and claimed that they were taking the situation way too seriously. On the opposite end of the spectrum, there were also a lot of comments that suggested that Anthony Taylor had it coming.
The clip, which was reposted on Twitter by the popular football account @footbalIfights has gone on to receive over 1 million views. On Reddit, it was reposted on the r/PublicFreakout subreddit by u/Gregorius5 and has amassed over 3000 upvotes.
Netizens criticize Roma fans' "childish behavior" towards Anthony Taylor
The video showed Anthony Taylor and his family safely and cautiously being escorted out of a cafe, surrounded by a horde of aggressive angry Roma fans. The crowd blamed Taylor's decisions for their penalty shoot-out loss to Sevilla and hurled insulting chants and physical objects like chairs and water bottles at the referee and his family.
Anthony Taylor walked through the crowd of AS Roma supporters while latching on to his wife and daughter, who looked extremely uncomfortable. In one instance, a fan holding a phone could be seen getting dangerously close to Taylor and yelling insults at him, but he was pushed away by security.
Netizens had a lot to say about both AS Roma fans and Anthony Taylor. In the r/PublicFreakout subreddit, users were mostly dumbfounded as to why people were getting this upset over a game.
Twitter users also left comments under the @footbalIfights' post and called out Roma fans for their behavior. They also demanded sanctions be levied against them.
However, a large section of fans claimed that Anthony Taylor had to be held accountable for his allegedly bad refereeing decisions, not just in the Europa League final but in a lot of other games as well. Some even went as far as to say that the violence was well deserved.
Budapest Airport confirmed in a statement that criminal proceedings were underway. The Airport revealed that the referee was recognized by Roma fans while at the airport food court where he was waiting for his flight.
The Premiere League released a statement on Friday that stated that nobody should suffer the way Anthony Taylor did.
The statement said:
“Anthony is one of our most experienced and accomplished match officials and we fully support him and his family."
Roma coach, Jose Mourinho confronted Taylor after the final
It was not just fans that were angry at Anthony Taylor. AS Roma head coach and two-time champions league winner, Jose Mourinho was also outraged at Taylor's decisions. In a video that surfaced on the Internet, Mourinho could be seen confronting the referee in the VIP car park of the Puskas Arena in Budapest.
He said:
"It's a f*****g disgrace man. Even Rosetti (Uefa Designator) said it wasn't a penalty"
He also took a dig at the referee in the post-match press conference by saying:
"Seeing this kind of refereeing in a European Final was really really hard"
Mourinho was later charged by UEFA for "insulting/abusive language against a match official."
