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Referee Anthony Taylor ignored his assistant telling him Cesc Fabregas did not dive.

Chelsea boss Jose Mourinho launched a remarkable attack on Taylor and his officials after Fabregas was booked for diving at Southampton.

Television replays later showed Fabregas did not dive and was tripped by Southampton’s Matt Targett.

Mirror Sport can reveal that assistant Darren Cann tried to warn Taylor that it was a penalty rather than a dive.

Taylor is understood to have shouted down the officials’ headset: “Not a pen, not a pen, simulation.”

But Cann shouted: “It is definitely not simulation.”

(Image: Getty)

The headset system was set up to try to create better communication between the officials and Cann clearly had a better view of the incident.

Taylor’s decision to book Fabregas enraged the Chelsea midfielder and Mourinho, who later launched a brutal attack on the officials.

Mourinho even claimed there was a “campaign against Chelsea” and added: “It is a scandal.

"The reality is there are penalties and penalties - this one was a huge one.

(Image: Getty)

“It was not just a small penalty. It was a penalty like Big Ben.

"In other countries this is front-page news because it’s an absolute scandal.

“Match after match coaches are telling Chelsea players are diving.

"I will go to the referee and wish him a good year and tell him he will be ashamed.”

Under the current laws, Chelsea cannot appeal Fabregas’s yellow card but the apparent disagreement between the officials makes the decision look even worse.

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