UEFA reduces Mourinho ban and fine
Reuters - Monday 06 December 2010, 17:49
MADRID - UEFA has reduced on appeal a fine
and two-match ban given to coach Jose Mourinho after allegations
that two of his Real Madrid players engineered deliberate red
cards in last month's Champions League game with Ajax Amsterdam.
European football's governing body, which originally ruled
Mourinho, the club and four players guilty of "improper
conduct", cut the Portuguese's fine to 30,000 euros from 40,000 and Real's to 100,000 euros from 120,000.
It also reduced the coach's suspension to one match -
Wednesday's Group G game at home to Auxerre - from the initial
punishment of a one-game suspension and a second game deferred
for a probationary period of three years.
Fines of 20,000 euros and one-match suspensions for Xabi
Alonso and Sergio Ramos, who were shown second yellow cards near
the end of the match for wasting time, will stand, UEFA said in
a statement on its website.
Captain and goalkeeper Iker Casillas and reserve keeper
Jerzy Dudek, who appeared to relay messages from Mourinho to
Alonso and Ramos, were fined 10,000 and 5,000 euros respectively
and those sanctions will also stand.
Spain internationals Ramos and Alonso will serve their bans
against Auxerre - a 'dead' game as Real are already assured of
first place in Group G and qualification for the last 16.
Both players had accumulated two yellow cards in the group
stage before they were sent off and a further caution in a
subsequent game would have meant a one-match suspension during
the knockout rounds.
The pair will start the knockout stage with one yellow card
each against their names as the cautions picked up before the
Ajax game still stand.
Mourinho last week called UEFA's decision a "medal" and not
a punishment and complained there was one rule for him and
another for other coaches.