Garcia slams Roma draw as 'parody of football'

Rudi Garcia has described Roma's draw with Bologna on Saturday as "a parody of football" and "water polo with feet".

The match went ahead as planned despite torrential rain in the region leaving the pitch at the Stadio Renato Dall'Ara waterlogged, causing persistent problems for both sides.

Roma also felt aggrieved that goalkeeper Antonio Mirante was shown a yellow card for handling the ball outside the box in the first half, before Mattia Destro scored a late penalty to snatch a 2-2 draw and deny the capital city club the chance to go top.

An angry Garcia felt the game should never have gone ahead, telling Mediaset Premium: "There was little football to see. How could there be in these conditions?

"It was possible to stop the game and the referee shouldn't have gone ahead with it. It wasn't football, it was water polo with feet."

"The only positive from today is that there weren't any injuries. I can't talk about football – it was a parody of football," he added, before storming out of the interview.

Next up for Roma is a pivotal Champions League clash away to Barcelona on Tuesday.