Premier League - Mourinho not drawn on touchline dismissal

Chelsea boss Jose Mourinho on Monday kept his counsel over his touchline dismissal in Saturday's 4-1 Premier League defeat of Cardiff.

By : PA Sport
 
Speaking on Chelsea's arrival in Germany at Dusseldorf airport, ahead of Tuesday's Champions League Group E clash at Schalke in Gelsenkirchen, the 50-year-old would not be drawn on his sending off by referee Anthony Taylor.

"I don't know the reason why the referee stopped me doing my work," Mourinho said.
"Until that moment I'm not going to make any comment."

Mourinho was banished to the stands where he sat alongside surprised supporters in club allocation seats behind the home dugout.

Following the match Mourinho deferred to Steve Holland for media duties, his assistant explaining the Blues boss was frustrated by perceived time wasting by Cardiff.

The Portuguese added: "To be with the fans was not funny. It's frustrating.

"You want to communicate with the players and you couldn't do it."

Mourinho's sending-off was not the only moment of controversy at Stamford Bridge.

The Portuguese spoke at length about the time taken by Cardiff to return the ball to play when asked about Eden Hazard's equaliser.

The Belgium forward's goal came after Samuel Eto'o had dispossessed Cardiff's David Marshall as the goalkeeper bounced the ball, contrary to FIFA rules.

Mourinho had no sympathy, accusing Cardiff of wasting supporters' money.

He said: "If I was in that game and I was paying my ticket, I would be worried with the fact that every time the ball was out or stopped and our opponent had to put the ball back in the game, it took a median (average) of 21.5 seconds. That is a waste of money.

"When you multiply that by the number of times the game was stopped, you pay for 90 minutes but you see 55 or 60.

"For me, that's breaking the rules."

Eto'o's interception was an "intelligent action" and that Marshall's actions were a warning to aspiring goalkeepers, including his own son.

Mourinho added: "When I arrived home the first thing I told my kids who like to play goalkeeper: 'See the goal and don't be silly?' And he's 12."

Mourinho disagreed with FIFA's law 12, governing the incident.

He added: "If, in this moment, FIFA says that it's a foul, it's a foul.

"But I think Samuel did well. Maybe the referee did wrong, I don't know to be fair.

"But in my opinion, that should be allowed as it was for years. No contact with the goalkeeper.

"The goalkeeper has six seconds to have the ball. They had almost half a minute. That's breaking the rules."

Mourinho was also asked about another controversial 'goal' this weekend, when Stefan Kiessling had one awarded for Bayer Leverkusen when he headed the ball through a hole in the side of the net.

Mourinho said: "If I was the manager of Leverkusen, I would ask to repeat the game.

"If I was the manager of Hoffenheim, I would do the same.

"If I was working in the German Bundesliga - and you are one of the European countries that is not in economical problems - I don't understand why you don't spend a few millions to bring technology on the line.

"If it was the Portuguese or the Greek league, I would say no chance. But with the German one, I don't know why you don't do it."