Mourinho on Uefa alert again
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Your support makes all the difference.Uefa's president, Lennart Johansson, has suggested that the Chelsea manager, Jose Mourinho, could face a further touchline ban for his antics before the Champions' League tie with Barcelona.
Two years ago Mourinho was banned from both legs of the quarter-final against Bayern Munich, although the suspicion was that he was still getting messages through to his coaches and players. This time he claimed Spanish football had turned Eidur Gudjohnsen into a diver, and said he was well aware of how many penalties Barcelona were awarded at the Nou Camp and how often opponents had a player sent off.
"Managers and coaches have a duty to see that we keep respect for the game and not behave like kids, making statements like somebody who's been promised a candy but didn't get it," said Johansson. "They are the ones who represent football. Their behaviour and their statements are listened to and guide many people in the wrong direction.
"If he was punished once, it can happen again, but he is not alone. It must be judged again. Excuse me using the word, but it's like crimes. The first time you are sometimes treated in a fairly decent way. But if you repeat it, it's much tougher."
Chelsea face an automatic fine for having six players shown yellow cards in last Tuesday's game. Barcelona's coach, Frank Rijkaard, may be punished for publicly abusing the referee after the final whistle. Although the level of sanctions rests with Uefa's disciplinary committee, Johansson would like to see players and coaches punished by missing matches. "I do not believe in fines. It's obvious that Chelsea has money to pay," he said.
Johansson has tried to deny that he intended any criticism of Chelsea's owner, Roman Abram-ovich. But he could not hide his disapproval when he told Sunday reporters: "If Abramovich likes to spend £1 billion to buy players, we can't do anything for the moment. If somebody is wealthy enough to buy a club and have the honour of winning the League or whatever, what could we do about it? I'm very sad about this development and I'm against it. For me it's morally wrong that clubs can just buy success."
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