Bad Jose! UEFA came down hard on the Real Madrid manager today, suspending Jose Mourinho for five matches and lightening his wallet by €50,000. Mourinho, who was sent off in the first leg of Madrid's Champions League semifinal against Barcelona, was charged for his post-match comments alleging a conspiracy designed to support his club's biggest rival.
Jose Mourinho Banned Five Matches, Fined €50,000 By UEFA
UEFA labeled Mourinho’s comments as “inappropriate statements” after taking exception to the Special One’s biting remarks in the wake of Barcelona’s 2-0 victory at the Bernabéu on April 27th. Here’s what Jose had to say that earned with UEFA’s wrath:
I don’t know if it is to give publicity to UNICEF or if it’s the friendship of [Spanish FA chief Angel Maria] Villar at UEFA or if it’s because they are very nice, but why does it always happen.
Mourinho went on to call the game “the scandal at the Bernabéu”.
Mourinho will actually only miss three European matches next season as he was given time served for sitting out the second leg of the Champions League semifinal. The fifth match ban was suspended for three years. Assuming Mourinho remains at Real Madrid, and all signs point to that being the case, Los Blancos will be without their manager for the first three matches in the 2011-12 Champions League group stages. Real Madrid have announced their plans to appeal UEFA’s decision.
This isn’t Mourinho’s first scrape with UEFA. While managing at Chelsea in 2007, he was suspended two matches for claiming to have seen then Barcelona manager Frank Rijkaard entering the referee’s dressing room at half-time of Chelsea 2-1 defeat at the hands of the Catalan side.
The band and fine comes as no surprise really and you can’t blame UEFA for not taking kindly to a manager making public allegations of vast conspiracies. I expect Mourinho will hardly be bothered by the ruling and this censure will do little to change the manager’s opinions or to curb his future behavior. After all, he’s the Special One.
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