Jose Mourinho and Arsene Wenger have their say on Gabriel's red card being rescinded

Mourinho was not happy with Gabriel’s red card being rescinded while Diego Costa was banned

Chelsea manager Jose Mourinho is of the opinion that the Football Association has set a dangerous precedent by rescinding Gabriel Paulista’s 3-match suspension for kicking out at Diego Costa, The Guardian reports. On the other hand, Arsenal manager has insisted that lifting the defender’s ban is a little too late after Arsenal’s defeat at Stamford Bridge.

Gabriel had initially received a three-match ban following his actions in the London derby clash which happened at the brink of the half-time break. Both clubs went back to their dressing rooms with the scoreline reading 0-0. But right after the break the Blues took advantage of having an extra man on the pitch and eventually went on to win the match by two goals.

However, the FA disciplinary panel has changed its mind after receiving the reports from referee Mike Dean who missed out on Diego Costa’s provocation on Koscielny and Gabriel in Saturday’s game.

FA has now allowed player retaliation: Mourinho

Mourinho expressed his disagreement on the FA’s decision to rescind Gabriel’s suspension. The Chelsea manager has spoken about the decision after his side’s 4-1 victory in the Capital One Cup clash at Walsall.

“I don’t really want to speak about the subject but we learned something this week,” Mourinho said. “Now we know that retaliation is officially allowed.”

Last season, Nemanja Matic had a similar incident to Gabriel’s when the Serbian was dismissed for kicking out at Burnley’s Ashley Barnes. But the Portuguese tactician said he did not think Matic’s incident could be compared to Gabriel’s.

“The two situations were not the same,” he said. “You cannot compare a leg almost broken with a man-to-man discussion.”

It was obvious Mourinho did not want to speak about Costa’s verdict and he was visibly annoyed about it.

“I don’t comment, if I reveal my true feelings a big suspension will be waiting for me,” he said.

“The team has already lost a big player, they don’t need to lose their manager as well. I’m happy to remain calm and quiet.”

Rescinding the red card does not change anything: Wenger

Arsene Wenger was of the opinion that the damage was already done after the red card in the game

Although justice has been served for Wenger and his Brazillian defender, he has revealed that it does not change the fact that his team suffered an undeserved defeat to Chelsea with 10 men during the second half of the game.

“It just shows that they decided after the game what should have happened during the game,” the Frenchman said.

“They repair 5% of the damage that has been done to us. Instead of us playing 11 against 10, we played 10 against 11. [It] doesn’t help us too much.”

“I watched the game again. It’s better I don’t talk too much because there are some things that were really surprising in this game, some incidents were really handled very lightly and not seriously, and it’s better I don’t talk too much because I’m still angry about it.”

Gabriel might have got his ban rescinded but the FA has charged on the player failing to leave the pitch swiftly after his dismissal.

“I said to you after the game that he should not have responded at all and I maintain that and I told him that.”

“But when I saw it again, he did not do a lot, honestly. You want them just to have hopefully a fair judgement and we will accept what they decide. That’s part of it.”

Following their 2-1 victory over Tottenham Hotspur in the Capital One Cup, Arsenal could yet face more trouble when the supporters tore down hoardings inside White Hart Lane. Several pieces of hoardings to the front of the first tier in the away enclosure were ripped after the final whistle.