3 gifts to placate Mourinho: Catalan attack on Real Madrid after the "robbery"
What you cannot achieve on the pitch, do it off it
Spanish newspaper Mundo Deportivo have opened fire on Real Madrid boss Jose Mourinho after the 4-1 win over Sevilla, suspecting favouritism towards the Spanish giants because Arda Guler escaped a red card.
The Catalan newspaper wrote: "What you cannot achieve on the pitch, do it off it. That was Mourinho's motto in his first season, when he was unable to stop Barcelona under Pep Guardiola, so he focused on stirring up doubts and talking constantly about the refereeing."
Nothing has changed second time around, according to the report. The Portuguese is the "absolute master" of the dark arts, as the Catalan coach once described him, and the machine cranked into gear straight after the international break as a way of taking on an unstoppable Barcelona.
"The Sevilla match was nothing less than a story of a robbery announced in advance, after weeks of complaints from Whinerinho," it stressed, referring to the nickname handed to Mourinho years ago for his grumbling. "He invoked the name of Enriquez Negreira, and added a new name to the list, Javier Tebas."
Sooner or later, the running feud between the Spanish league president and Florentino Perez was always going to land at the referees' door. Especially with the Santiago Bernabeu as the stage. Especially with Barcelona having just banked another big win.
A soothing dose for Real Madrid before the Clasico
Mundo Deportivo stated: "Three gifts came in the form of a soothing dose ahead of the Clasico, and they are matters Mourinho will not talk about. It is impossible for him to do so. If Vinicius pulling a player's hair was worth a red card and a four-match ban in the last round, then what should the punishment be for delivering an elbow to the mouth, with the ball nowhere near the incident?"
The paper went on: "The justification is likely to be the absence of a clear camera angle on the incident. In the age of the image, with cameras everywhere, not a single clear replay of the incident appeared, or at least not a replay sufficient to prompt the video assistant referee to call over the referee Busquets Ferrer, who was Mourinho's ally in yesterday's match."
Sevilla could have walked off at the break in even worse shape. Mbappe's second goal, finished with a brilliant touch, followed an objection over a foul by Konate on Ouri. The defender held him and stopped him breaking clear on his own with the ball from the halfway line, but the referee played the advantage rule and the second goal arrived.
Kylian Mbappe then won a penalty surrounded by doubts over its validity and converted it for Real Madrid's third.
The Catalan newspaper concluded: "Even so, there was room for more. The fear of making refereeing decisions appears to have taken root inside the refereeing committee. Otherwise, how can one explain the gift of awarding a non-existent penalty to Mbappe, with which he settled the match? And now, it is time for the Clasico."
