The Roma manager, Jose Mourinho, has told his players to dive to win more penalties.

Mourinho was left fuming after his side were denied a spot-kick in their 1-0 defeat to Atalanta on Sunday.

The former Chelsea and Manchester United boss was sent off for dissent after referee Daniele Chiffi waved away calls for a penalty following a coming-together between Roma’s Nicolo Zaniolo and Atalanta’s Caleb Okoli.

Mourinho has now suggested they would have had better luck had Zaniolo not tried to stay on his feet.

“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,” Mourinho said.

Roma sit in sixth place on the Serie A table, with 13 points from their opening seven games.