Jose Mourinho blamed the referee and VAR for AS Roma’s 3-2 defeat to rivals Lazio in Serie A on Sunday, saying his side were dominant in spite of the result.

It was the Portuguese manager’s second loss since taking charge of the Italian side in the summer and Lazio led from the 10th minute until the final whistle.

However, Mourinho was unhappy about a potential foul in the build-up to Lazio’s second goal, scored by former Roma winger Pedro after 19 minutes.

He felt Lucas Leiva should have received a second booking after seeing Roma captain Lorenzo Pellegrini sent off against Udinese on Thursday.

“Italian football has improved a lot. But unfortunately, the referee and VAR were not at the right level for this fantastic match,” Mourinho told reporters.

“On the 2-0 goal it could have been 1-1, the referee and VAR made a mistake. This is too much.

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“The lack of a second yellow for Leiva is also important. It was a similar situation to Pellegrini, he got a red but today there was nothing.

“We were the better team on the pitch. Obviously when you concede three goals, something has gone wrong, but the second and third were counter-attacks.

“We tried, we dominated. We gave everything and put Lazio in difficulty,” Mourinho said.

Roma, who are fourth in Serie A, face Zorya next in the UEFA Conference League on Thursday, before hosting Empoli in the league.