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Mourinho sparks ‘mutiny’ after knocking Real player
Real Madrid coach does the unthinkable – criticising a Real Madrid player in public
IS IT A CASE of Mutiny at the Bernabeu? According to the Spanish press, Real Madrid players are up in arms after coach Jose Mourinho broke one of football’s cardinal rules – he publicly criticised a Real player.
A whiff of sedition has been wafting across Madrid ever since Real lost 1-0 to Levante at the weekend, a defeat that saw the club slip to ninth in La Liga. The 'Special One', as Mourinho likes to call himself, later blamed the reverse on a number of factors, including the competence of the referee, the antics of the opposition and the behaviour of Madrid midfielder Sami Khedira.
El Pais says that Mourinho’s mistake was the latter, accusing Khedira of indiscipline for the two yellow cards he received in the first-half. "My player knows about these situations and fell for the trap," fumed the Portuguese coach. "that’s why I make him partly responsible for the defeat and I don’t have a problem doing so."
But he may have a problem doing so now, following the alleged furious reaction of Khedira’s team-mates. El Pais quotes one unnamed Real player as saying the German international "had obeyed orders" from his coach to play in an aggressive manner.
Apparently Mourinho instructed his side before the game to put the referee under pressure if a Levante player made a strong challenge in the hope of getting him booked. The plan worked, in a sense, with Levante picking up seven yellow cards in total, but Khedira collected two of his own for his attitude, leaving Real at a disadvantage that Levante later exploited when Arouna Kone netted on 68 minutes.
It’s alleged that Real’s players have reached the end of their tether with their coach, and have demanded he tone down his comments to the press. But another Spanish paper, Sport, says that Mourinho has asked for help from his agent Jorge Mendes in staving off the mutiny.
Mendes also has a number of Real players on his books - including Ricardo Carvalho and Cristiano Ronaldo – and Mourinho wants him to act as peacemaker. ·
