José Mourinho lauds ‘intelligent action’ and accuses Cardiff of time-wasting

Chelsea manager Jose Mourinho has accused Cardiff of wasting fans' money following Saturday's controversial Premier League encounter at Stamford Bridge which saw him sent to the stands.

Mourinho, who was this evening charged by the FA with improper conduct, kept his counsel over referee Anthony Taylor’s decision to send him from the touchline, but spoke at length about the time taken by Cardiff to return the ball to play when asked about Eden Hazard’s equaliser.

The Belgium forward's goal came after Eto'o had dispossessed Cardiff's David Marshall as the goalkeeper bounced the ball, contrary to Fifa rules. But Mourinho had no sympathy for the visitors, whom he believed to be time-wasting throughout the match Chelsea won 4-1.

Speaking on Chelsea's arrival in Germany at Düsseldorf airport, ahead of Tuesday's Champions League Group E clash at Schalke in Gelsenkirchen, Mourinho said: "If I was in that game and I was paying my ticket, I would be worried with the fact that every time the ball was out or stopped and our opponent had to put the ball back in the game, it took a median of 21.5 seconds. That is a waste of money.

“When you multiply that by the number of times the game was stopped, you pay for 90 minutes but you see 55 or 60. For me, that’s breaking the rules.”

Mourinho insisted Eto’o’s interception was an “intelligent action” and that Marshall’s actions were a warning to aspiring goalkeepers, including his own son.

Mourinho added: “When I arrived home the first thing I told my kids who like to play goalkeeper: ‘See the goal and don’t be silly?’ And he’s 12.”

Mourinho disagreed with Fifa’s law 12, governing the incident, which states “the goalkeeper is considered to be in possession of the ball while in the act of bouncing it on the ground or tossing it into the air”.

He added: “If, in this moment, Fifa says that it’s a foul, it’s a foul. But I think Samuel did well. Maybe the referee did wrong. In my opinion, that should be allowed as it was for years. No contact with the goalkeeper.

“The goalkeeper has six seconds to have the ball. They had almost half a minute. That’s breaking the rules.”

Mourinho was also asked about another controversial 'goal' this weekend, when Stefan Kiessling had one awarded for Bayer Leverkusen when the ball went through a hole in the net.

Mourinho said: “If I was the manager of Leverkusen, I would ask to repeat the game. If I was the manager of Hoffenheim, I would do the same. If I was working in the German Bundesliga - and you are one of the European countries that is not in economical problems - I don’t understand why you don’t spend a few million (euros) to bring technology on the line.

“If it was the Portuguese or the Greek league, I would say no chance. But with the German one, I don’t know why you don’t do it.”

When Mourinho was banished to the stands, he sat alongside surprised supporters in club allocation seats behind the home dugout.

“I don’t know the reason why the referee stopped me doing my work,” Mourinho said. “Until that moment (when I am told) I’m not going to make any comment. To be with the fans was not funny. It’s frustrating. You want to communicate with the players and you couldn’t do it.”