Sevilla's fixtures bring back to the fore one of the most fraught chapters of Mourinho's dealings with referees

Matches against Sevilla do not pass by as ordinary occasions in Jose Mourinho's memory, for the Spanish side has been linked to two of the most prominent flashpoints between the Portuguese coach and refereeing, before Real Madrid face their Andalusian counterparts tomorrow, Sunday, in La Liga.

The most recent came in the 2023 Europa League final, when he lost the title with Roma in Budapest amid furious protests against English referee Anthony Taylor. The other came more than 12 years earlier, when Mourinho turned Real Madrid against Sevilla into a refereeing issue and presented a list of 13 incidents he strongly objected to.

According to "Marca", those incidents are back in the spotlight with talk of tension between Real Madrid, the referees and the Spanish Football Federation resurfacing. They shed light on how Mourinho handles refereeing decisions, and on the crises that at times spilled beyond the pitch into disputes with sporting institutions and club boards.

The Budapest final: losing the title ignited the confrontation with Taylor

The most recent story began in the 2022-2023 Europa League final, when Roma met Sevilla in Budapest, after the Italian side had been crowned Europa Conference League champions the previous season.

Sevilla took the title for the seventh time in their history on penalties, and the Portuguese coach did not hide his belief that the refereeing decisions had made his side's task harder.

As soon as the final whistle blew, Mourinho rushed towards Taylor and spat out an angry phrase: "You are a disgrace, you are a disgrace." UEFA opened disciplinary proceedings and handed him a four-match ban.

That was no fleeting moment of emotion. At the press conference, Mourinho returned to the decisions that had angered him, criticised the high number of yellow cards and objected to Erik Lamela staying on the pitch after what he felt was a second caution. He finished by insisting his team had been wronged despite the fine level they had shown in the final.

Mourinho said: "We go home feeling dead because of the injustice. But it was a great match and a big final. The referee seemed Spanish, because of that number of yellow cards. And when he should have given Lamela a second yellow card, he didn't, and then he scored one of the penalty shootout goals. It is an injustice."

Even the intervention of UEFA's refereeing chief did not end his anger

The crisis stretched beyond the match itself, into the car park at the Puskas Arena, where Mourinho pulled out his phone and showed the footage of the penalty awarded to Sevilla before the video assistant referee intervened to overturn it.

Roberto Rosetti, the man in charge of refereeing at UEFA, tried to contain the situation and calm the Portuguese down. It changed nothing. "You were in agreement with them," Mourinho replied.

He then turned back to Taylor, leaning on Rosetti's position on the penalty: "Even Rosetti said it is not a penalty, and you were not able to see it."

Months later, the file was still there in Mourinho's memory. Asked about the English referee again, he chose not to repeat his earlier attack, but the message about his lingering anger was clear enough: "I will not say what I think about Taylor, because they will punish me with a ten-match ban."

The Bernabeu night from which Mourinho emerged with a list of 13 errors

Mourinho's tense relationship with refereeing in Sevilla matches goes back much further, to December 2010, during his first season with Real Madrid.

Real Madrid won by a single goal from Angel Di Maria, yet the result was not what Mourinho wanted to talk about afterwards. He turned up to the press conference with a list of 13 incidents he considered refereeing errors by Clos Gomez.

On it were objections to offside decisions and to fouls not given in favour of Real Madrid's players, along with demands for yellow cards and a penalty, plus criticism of the way stoppage time was calculated.

His loudest complaints concerned offsides given against Mesut Ozil, Karim Benzema and Di Maria, despite his belief that none of them were in an offside position, and the failure to punish some fouls by Sevilla's players. He also pointed to a penalty not awarded after a challenge on Granero in the 69th minute.

Ricardo Carvalho escaping a second yellow card in a clash with Negredo angered him too, as did Ozil being booked for time-wasting while coming off, which he felt Sevilla's players had been spared.

Clos Gomez refereed that match, before later taking on responsibility for video assistant referee technology in Spain, from March 2018.

"I don't want to defend the team on my own": a message to Real Madrid's board

The list was not just another swipe at the referee. Mourinho wanted to push Real Madrid's board into taking a clearer stance in defence of the team.

He demanded an urgent meeting with club president Florentino Perez, unhappy at carrying the burden of protesting against refereeing decisions alone and then paying for it with punishments and bans.

Mourinho said: "They gave me a list containing 13 serious errors. And they asked me if I feel tired of the pressure. No, because I don't feel pressure when I do the things I love: training and playing. What I feel somewhat tired of is that they give me a list of serious refereeing errors, and then they want me to attack the referee and defend my team. This team deserves someone to defend it, today and on many other occasions."

He added: "If I take this list and act on it, the result will always be the same: Mourinho banned. We have a club and an administrative structure, and I want everyone to defend my team, not for me to be the only one doing it. What happened today does not even deserve comment."

Those words were aimed squarely at the club's board of the time, a nod to the missing support he had expected from officials including general sporting director Jorge Valdano and sporting director Miguel Pardeza.