Mourinho dodges Guler's sending-off by criticising Barcelona and the Sevilla coach
Real Madrid coach Jose Mourinho attempted to defend the decision not to send off his Turkish player Arda Guler during the match against Sevilla, which ended in a 4-1 win for Los Blancos in the ninth round of La Liga.
According to Sport newspaper, Mourinho, a serial critic of referees, needed to cover up what happened. His method? Protesting that no clear image existed to justify sending Guler off.
"I want to avoid commenting on the remarks of Sevilla coach Luis Garcia Plaza, not on the play itself," Mourinho said at the press conference.
He continued: "Nobody has been able to show me what they say happened, and I don't have a single image. I asked for images from the television and from my own analysts, who have the tactical camera. I couldn't see any image that shows what they are talking about, which angered Luis Garcia. I couldn't see anything."
"I tell you in all honesty that if one day something happens that works in our favour, I will have no problem coming out and saying so," he added. "I think the opposite will happen to us far more often, because that is the natural direction of things."
Then came the challenge: "I didn't see anything at all. If someone gets me a clear image by Saturday of an incident I didn't see, I'll be there, but so far, nothing."
Things got worse when he turned on the Sevilla coach, dismissing his comments as an excuse to dodge questions about a four-goal defeat.
"I didn't think about the Clasico for a single minute today. I thought about winning this match," he explained. "I understand Luis's position. It's wonderful for a coach to have lost by four goals and then be given the chance to answer four or five questions about something that didn't happen."
On the prospect of a suspension, he noted: "Am I afraid of losing Guler to suspension? When the incident happened, I looked at the tablet and saw nothing." Mourinho even went as far as challenging the journalists, asking: "Does any of you have an image that would make me see the red card?"
The decisions had gone his way, yet the Portuguese still found room for a dig at Barcelona. "I didn't watch the La Cartuja match. I watched Leipzig against Bayern Munich, and I didn't watch Barcelona. I swear to you. Afterwards, some things reached me of course, but that isn't a surprise to me either. It's just another day at the office."
That missing red card keeps Guler available for the Clasico. Mourinho, though, has no interest in looking that far ahead.
"We have a Champions League match on Wednesday. It's the only match we are thinking about," he concluded. "I won't waste a single minute thinking about the Clasico until Wednesday, at 23:00."
