Chelsea manager Jose Mourinho labels Manchester City result 'completely fake'

Chelsea Jose Mourinho Manchester City Manuel Pellegrini
Mourinho and Pellegrini did not see eye to eye in their assessment of the 3-0 scoreline in favour of City

Chelsea manager Jose Mourinho and Manchester City counterpart Manuel Pellegrini are at a war of words after their Premier League clash on Sunday which ended comprehensively in favour of the Sky Blues. While the Special One feels that that the 3-0 scoreline was “completely fake,” Pellegrini argued that the victory in front of their home crowd was “the least we deserved.”

Sergio Aguero, Vincent Kompany, and Fernandinho scored the goals for Manchester City as Chelsea fell to their first league defeat in August for five years. Mourinho though disagrees with the general perception that his side was handed a thrashing and argued that two City players should have been red-carded during the course of the match.

"If the 1-0 was a doubtful result at minute 70, 3-0 is completely fake," he said, according to ESPN. "At 1-0 Chelsea were the best team for the whole second half. After our second half a 1-0 result would be unfair, so imagine the 2-0 or the 3-0.”

"They were the best team in the first half. They controlled the game and create chances. We were comfortable with the ball but defensively we were quite fragile. In the second half, everything changed. We brought our defensive line to the midfield line. We pressed them and we created chances. We had lots of space in midfield. The second goal was out of context. We were punished for our mistakes for the second and third goal.”

The Chelsea boss was critical of the match referee for not handing Fernandinho a straight red card for his elbow on forward Diego Costa, and felt that Yaya Toure should have received his marching orders for two yellow card offences. However, Mourinho conceded that the latter’s case did not have any bearing on the result.

"Yaya Toure [should have been a] second yellow but the minute was the 83rd and it was 3-0," he said. "It has no relation with the result but it has a relation with the rules and the rules say [that in] minute one or minute 90, it was a red card."

As for the Costa incident, Mourinho had this to say: "My feeling? Red card."

Manchester City manager Manuel Pellegrini responds to Mourinho’s comments

Manchester City manager Manuel Pellegrini was however not impressed with Mourinho’s evaluation of the game and felt that his side completely deserved the three points.

“In the first half we deserved at least three goals. It was more equal in the second half. Chelsea played better, but I just remember Joe [Hart] making one save at 3-0. Our team played better and three is the least we deserved,” Pellegrini said, as reported by The Guardian.

City have opened up a five-point lead over Chelsea and though understandably thrilled at the good start to the season, the Chilean didn’t read too much into the result.

“Nothing is significant until the end of the season. We were in the same position in January but lost by eight points at the end. The gap is important, but we are just starting and not sending a message.”

Quick Links

Edited by Staff Editor