Jose Mourinho should expect another fine. London's "Chelsea" strategist appeared on Sunday morning on the "Goals on Sunday" program on Sky Sports and did not hesitate to criticize football referees. The sharp Portuguese criticisms targeted not only the referees but also the players, according to lrytas.lt.
J.Mourinho poured out his accumulated anger after the bitter end of Saturday's match for the "Chelsea" team. "Chelsea" played a 1-1 draw with the "Burnley" team in the relegation zone of the Premier League. "Chelsea" finished the match with ten players when the referee sent off Nemanja Matic for aggressively reacting to a tackle by "Burnley" representative Ashley Barnes.
Criticism - and for television
On Sunday morning, football fans in England who tuned into the "Goals on Sunday" program were supposed to see former player James Beattie, but the striker who played five matches for the England team was replaced at the last moment by J.Mourinho. "Sky Sports" announced the 52-year-old specialist's appearance 20 minutes before the start of the show.
This caused great excitement because J.Mourinho had previously tried to ignore such shows, but now, not for the first time, the Portuguese who criticized referees and paid fines for it decided to continue the war.
Talking to the show's hosts, J.Mourinho sharply criticized A.Barnes. The Portuguese claimed that the "Burnley" forward's tackle on Matic was of a criminal nature. According to J.Mourinho, the player deserved to be sent off for three games.
Chelsea's strategist also stated that the match referee Martin Atkinson made four mistakes - he did not show a red card twice to A.Barnes and did not allow the Chelsea team to take two penalties.
J.Mourinho also directed his anger towards Sky Sports television. He was unhappy that Diego Costa's behavior was referred to as a crime by them, and later they did not apologize for emphasizing the Chelsea forward's behavior, which led to a three-game suspension. The latter incident occurred during the Capital One Cup semifinal match when he deliberately stepped on the fallen Liverpool player Emre Can's leg.
J.Mourinho admitted that he risks facing the displeasure of the English Football Association (FA). He could be banned from the Capital One Cup final, where the team will play against Tottenham Hotspur. J.Mourinho stressed that Chelsea is not allowed to appeal Matic's three-game suspension, even though other teams could do so.
Chelsea's head coach loudly stated that if not for the referees' mistakes during matches against Southampton, Hotspur, and Burnley, his team would have been 12 points ahead of Manchester City, not five as it is now.
"I only remember one decision this season that was beneficial to us. I risk not leading the team in the final because I'm talking about it, but I have to do it. My players do not receive the respect they deserve," said J.Mourinho.
Risks of paying more
J.Mourinho's anger bubbled over on the edges, which was quite surprising. Less than a month ago, the FA ordered the Portuguese to pay £25,000 for comments about the referees' work and the conspiracy theory he created. J.Mourinho is convinced that the referees and other major clubs are against him and Chelsea.
However, J.Mourinho later said that the campaign against him and the team is organized by the media, not the referees, so he managed to avoid heavier penalties.
But immediately J.Mourinho directly criticized M.Atkinson. The latter also faced criticism for the matches against Everton and Liverpool.
The Portuguese claimed that in England, referees are not doing so well and said that they need to use new technologies.
"If I were a referee, I would gladly agree with that," said J.Mourinho. "Just like with goal-line technology. I am very pleased with it. Our referees tried, but they're not doing well. And if the referee doesn't see something on the field, the assistant could see it on the TV screen."
lrytas.lt
