Mourinho gives secret note to ballboy who passes it onto goalkeeper Rui Patricio

Jose Mourinho was spotted handing a tactical note to a ballboy which was in turned passed onto Roma goalkeeper Rui Patricio on Sunday night.

The Italian side faced off against Fiorentina at the Stadio Olimpico in a huge clash in the race for the top four in Serie A.

Roma went ahead early on through Romelu Lukaku but disaster struck midway through the second half when Nicola Zalewksi was dismissed for a second bookable offence, with Lucas Martinez Quarta equalising minutes later.

Things got even worse when Lukaku was sent off for a bad challenge with nine-man Roma left desperately clinging on for a point.

The cameras then caught Mourinho - known for his gamesmanship tactics down the years - writing a note on a piece of paper.

He alerted a ballboy who was told to give it to former Wolves stopper Patricio, with the Portuguese star pausing for a moment to take all the instructions in.

Patricio then passed it back to the ballboy - with the incident coming in the 90th minute.

The TV cameras caught the details of the note, which appeared to be tactical instructions.

Roma ultimately held on for the draw, which keeps them in fourth place after 11 games.

However, the table is extremely close in Italy, with Roma's arch-rivals Lazio just four points behind them despite languishing in 10th.

The point caps a good run of form for Roma, with Mourinho's side losing just one of their past nine games after a difficult start to the season.

Mourinho is now in his third season in the Italian capital, with the iconic Portuguese coach having won 65 of his 130 games in charge.

In his first campaign, he helped Roma win the Europa Conference League, before they lost on penalties to Sevilla in last season's Europa League final.