Mourinho hints at hidden agenda by UEFA
Jose Mourinho has hinted that Chelsea were being targeted by European football's governing body UEFA after they earned four yellow cards in their 2-0 Champions League victory over Werder Bremen.
Mourinho said he was at a loss to explain why so many of his players find their way into the referee's notebook when they play in Europe.
John Terry, Frank Lampard, Joe Cole and Didier Drogba were booked against Werder in Tuesday night's Champions League opener, and the key quartet are now one booking away from a ban.
The Chelsea boss suspects UEFA have a hidden agenda against him but chose his words carefully as he checked the statistics from the first round of matches.
Mourinho said: "I don't want to speak about this, because I spoke lots over the last three years. But the reality, when you look, is Barcelona have no yellow cards, Bayern Munich one yellow card, Liverpool no yellow cards, Valencia one yellow card, Roma one yellow card, Chelsea four yellow cards.
"Do you think it is violence? No."
Valencia actually had two players booked - Edu and Roberto Ayala - and Mourinho overlooked the fact that Inter Milan had four booked away to Sporting Lisbon.
Terry, Lampard, Cole and Drogba must now tiptoe through the rest of the group games, knowing that another booking will mean an automatic one-match ban.
The Blues are away to Levski Sofia before back-to-back Group A games against Barcelona next month.
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and this made me laugh:
Mourinho backs under-fire Lampard
"For me, Lampard is guilty. He is guilty because you (England) never had a player like him in the last 10 years and because of that you are having a go at him.
More: http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/football/europe/5333808.stm
Jose Mourinho has hinted that Chelsea were being targeted by European football's governing body UEFA after they earned four yellow cards in their 2-0 Champions League victory over Werder Bremen.
Mourinho said he was at a loss to explain why so many of his players find their way into the referee's notebook when they play in Europe.
John Terry, Frank Lampard, Joe Cole and Didier Drogba were booked against Werder in Tuesday night's Champions League opener, and the key quartet are now one booking away from a ban.
The Chelsea boss suspects UEFA have a hidden agenda against him but chose his words carefully as he checked the statistics from the first round of matches.
Mourinho said: "I don't want to speak about this, because I spoke lots over the last three years. But the reality, when you look, is Barcelona have no yellow cards, Bayern Munich one yellow card, Liverpool no yellow cards, Valencia one yellow card, Roma one yellow card, Chelsea four yellow cards.
"Do you think it is violence? No."
Valencia actually had two players booked - Edu and Roberto Ayala - and Mourinho overlooked the fact that Inter Milan had four booked away to Sporting Lisbon.
Terry, Lampard, Cole and Drogba must now tiptoe through the rest of the group games, knowing that another booking will mean an automatic one-match ban.
The Blues are away to Levski Sofia before back-to-back Group A games against Barcelona next month.
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
and this made me laugh:
Mourinho backs under-fire Lampard
"For me, Lampard is guilty. He is guilty because you (England) never had a player like him in the last 10 years and because of that you are having a go at him.
More: http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/football/europe/5333808.stm