Mourinho hints at hidden agenda by UEFA

Jose Mourinho has hinted that Chelsea were being targeted by European football's governing body UEFA after they earned four yellow cards in their 2-0 Champions League victory over Werder Bremen.

Mourinho said he was at a loss to explain why so many of his players find their way into the referee's notebook when they play in Europe.

John Terry, Frank Lampard, Joe Cole and Didier Drogba were booked against Werder in Tuesday night's Champions League opener, and the key quartet are now one booking away from a ban.

The Chelsea boss suspects UEFA have a hidden agenda against him but chose his words carefully as he checked the statistics from the first round of matches.

Mourinho said: "I don't want to speak about this, because I spoke lots over the last three years. But the reality, when you look, is Barcelona have no yellow cards, Bayern Munich one yellow card, Liverpool no yellow cards, Valencia one yellow card, Roma one yellow card, Chelsea four yellow cards.

"Do you think it is violence? No."

Valencia actually had two players booked - Edu and Roberto Ayala - and Mourinho overlooked the fact that Inter Milan had four booked away to Sporting Lisbon.

Terry, Lampard, Cole and Drogba must now tiptoe through the rest of the group games, knowing that another booking will mean an automatic one-match ban.

The Blues are away to Levski Sofia before back-to-back Group A games against Barcelona next month.

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and this made me laugh:

Mourinho backs under-fire Lampard

"For me, Lampard is guilty. He is guilty because you (England) never had a player like him in the last 10 years and because of that you are having a go at him.

More: http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/football/europe/5333808.stm

I think Mourinho's comment re: "never had a player like him in the last 10 years" was referring to Lampard's record number of games played in a row, that he is never injured, has scored plenty of goals in his career and does give 100percent.

I certainly dont think he was commenting talentwise. Scholes, Gerrard, Gazza (yes, <10years ago he was still playing), Ince, now Carrick, Hargreaves etc: Even Mourinho isnt that stupid to think Lampard is somehow more uniquely talented than these guys

Shocking by the special one. If he was such a special manager he'd know that refs in Europe are more strict than those in England.

If you think Mourinho is being a tw@t put your hand up dont hesistate!



Well did you put your hand up?



Well then the real twat is you , Mourinho is a clever guy by making these comments its going to put pressure on the ref in Chelsea next CL game, and likely wont give out cards to the trio or other Chavski players.

I might be wrong, but you watch next week or whenever it is

I didn't put my hand up.

If I had my fellow workers would have probably sussed that something was up though

Well it was obvious, no malice honest.

Although you have to admit Mourinho is a clever sod, his comments are calculated and well thoughout, apart from a few Which even Chelsea fans must be themselves lol.

Funny thing is was a article in the Mail today "Keep Winning Jose Or Else" Continues; Guus is on standby

I was thinking boy that Roman guy is one cold man.

Dont know how that relates just had to say it

Target Man wrote:Well it was obvious, no malice honest.

Although you have to admit Mourinho is a clever sod, his comments are calculated and well thoughout, apart from a few Which even Chelsea fans must be themselves lol.

Funny thing is was a article in the Mail today "Keep Winning Jose Or Else" Continues; Guus is on standby

I was thinking boy that Roman guy is one cold man.

Dont know how that relates just had to say it

I watched Joe Cole get booked and half an hour later watched Bellamy protesting far more vigourously against a bad decision with no action taken. Maybe just the usual annoying lack of consistency but it will be interesting to see how that referee behaves in other games.

Target Man wrote:
I was thinking boy that Roman guy is one cold man.

The guy never pretends to be warm & cuddly.... I think Jose knows where he stands. It would annoy me more if he was a hypocritical gobshite like Fat Freddy, supporting managers in public and shafting them in private.

kasnani wrote:Shocking by the special one. If he was such a special manager he'd know that refs in Europe are more strict than those in England.

Even more inconsistent is more like it. I see Patrick Viera was off again so no change there.

To be honest, Mourinho is a very clever guy. Very arrogant, but very smart (he even out-wits the interviewers in their native language)

Some of his comments are stupid, but I think he likes to put pressure on referees (like SAF used to when Man Utd were at the top) and likes to wind up the opposition (and their fans), which he does VERY successfully.

Also the media behave as if they can't stand him, but really, they can't get enough of him (who would they then be able to print all these stories about if Mourinho now left?)