Mourinho turns up heat on Barça's Guardiola
Real coach accuses rival of criticising referees ahead of Champions League semi-final
Your support helps us to tell the story
From reproductive rights to climate change to Big Tech, The Independent is on the ground when the story is developing. Whether it's investigating the financials of Elon Musk's pro-Trump PAC or producing our latest documentary, 'The A Word', which shines a light on the American women fighting for reproductive rights, we know how important it is to parse out the facts from the messaging.
At such a critical moment in US history, we need reporters on the ground. Your donation allows us to keep sending journalists to speak to both sides of the story.
The Independent is trusted by Americans across the entire political spectrum. And unlike many other quality news outlets, we choose not to lock Americans out of our reporting and analysis with paywalls. We believe quality journalism should be available to everyone, paid for by those who can afford it.
Your support makes all the difference.Jose Mourinho accused Pep Guardiola of being uniquely critical of referees ahead of tonight's Champions League semi-final first leg between Real Madrid and Barcelona. Mourinho directed attention onto his Barcelona counterpart yesterday, saying that he was the only coach who criticises officials for making the correct decisions.
Last Wednesday, Mourinho's side beat Barcelona 1-0 to win the Copa del Rey. A Pedro goal was correctly ruled out for offside, a decision criticised by Guardiola. "We seem to be starting a new era," Mourinho said. "Until now we have two groups of coaches. One very small group who never talk about referees, and one much bigger group, of which I am part, who talk about referees when it feels that a wrong decision has been made. But now we have a third group with only Guardiola in it, of coaches who criticise a referee for getting a decision right."
The Real coach then pointed to refereeing decisions that have gone in Barcelona's favour in recent years. "I have never seen anything like it," he continued. "Maybe it is because in his first season he lived through the scandal of Stamford Bridge [when Barcelona knocked out Chelsea after withstanding several strong penalty claims] and perhaps from that time on he is not happy when referees get it right. He played against one less in the match with Inter last season and then again in the match against Arsenal. Now in the Cup final when the referee has a very difficult decision to make, and he gets it right, he criticises it."
Mourinho would not be drawn on predictions. "There are no favourites in semi-finals," he said. "Maybe after the first leg we can talk about one team having a slight advantage."
Join our commenting forum
Join thought-provoking conversations, follow other Independent readers and see their replies
Comments