Jose Mourinho borrowed the words of his fiercest rival on Tuesday night and, in doing so, took another swipe at the Football Association.
When asked by BT Sport reporter Ray Stubbs for his views on Chelsea’s performance in their 0-0 Champions League draw with Dynamo Kiev, the moaning manager instantly made referees the subject of the interview.
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“The referee was weak and naive with the penalty,” BBC Sport quote Mourinho as saying. “I cannot understand what the referee behind the goal does because he doesn’t make a clear decision too.”
Evaluating his team’s display, Mourinho added: “I see progress. We hit the post twice, had a good solid defensive performance against dangerous team. To lose this game would have been bad for us.”
Chelsea may rightly feel aggrieved that Cesc Fabregas was not given a penalty early on in the stalemate, when the Spaniard was taken out by Serhiy Rybalka right in front of Slovenian referee Damir Skomina.
SEE MORE: (Video) Chelsea denied clear penalty in Kiev as Fabregas gets chopped and ignored
However, Mourinho’s decision to call Mr Skomina “weak and naive” was not the personal attack it might seem to some.
Mourinho, very deliberately chose the words that Arsenal boss Arsene Wenger used to describe Mike Dean following the Gunners’ 2-0 defeat at Chelsea earlier this season.
Wenger went unpunished for his criticism of Dean, but the FA fined Mourinho £50,000 for saying – following last month’s 3-1 defeat to Southampton – that referees were “afraid” to give decisions in favour of his side.
Mourinho, who has since appealed against his fine and his suspended stadium ban according to the London Evening Standard, compared his and Wenger’s contrasting treatment from England’s governing body when he spoke to the media last week.
The Telegraph quoted Mourinho as saying: “The word ‘afraid’ is a punishment and a hard punishment. But to say the referee was ‘weak and naive’, referring to one of the top referees in this country and in Europe, we can do.
“So I think the only good thing of this last decision by the FA is that every manager in this country can write in a little book and, when he goes to the press conference, he knows that ‘afraid’ costs £50,000. Weak and naive, you can use.”
Back to the game in Kiev, it was Willian who came closest to winning the match. The Brazilian ratted the crossbar with an excellent effort from long range.
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