© EuroFootball.com
Not hiding his anger, Jose Mourinho admitted that the door to the Champions League final has already closed for the Madrid club.
Portugal's proteges lost at home 0-2 in the first leg of the semifinals to their fiercest rival, the "Barcelona" team, and in the return leg away, they must create a small miracle if they hope to secure a ticket to the final showdown in London.
Mourinho was displeased with referee Wolfgang Stark's decision to send off defender Pepe in the 61st minute. Shortly after this episode, the coach himself was sent to the stands, watching the rest of the match with a stone face.
"Another miracle with ten footballers was not possible," said Mourinho. "Yes, I think we are already eliminated. We will give it our all in Barcelona, but I don't expect success.
We will have to play without the suspended Pepe and Sergio Ramos, who did nothing wrong - just like me. I just want to know: why? Why was Pepe sent off? Let someone explain it to me. Why did this happen?"
And he answered himself: "If I were to say, my career would end today. Sometimes the world we live in amazes me. If we go to Camp Nou and score a goal, they will kill us again. We don't stand a chance. This is how it is - Barcelona must play in the final."
The press conference did not end there. Mourinho continued: "Congratulations to the fantastic team, but also to everyone else: it shouldn't be easy to gain so much power. Where does it even come from?
I respect coach Pep Guardiola as a strategist and as a person... But I wish that he could work without scandals in the Champions League."
