Mathieu bemoans Mourinho 'lack of respect'
Reuters - Monday 21 November 2011, 20:45
Valencia defender Jeremy
Mathieu has hit out at Real Madrid coach Jose Mourinho over his
behaviour during Real's 3-2 win in La Liga on Saturday, saying
the Portuguese showed a lack of respect.
Mourinho raised hackles at the Mestalla with his extravagant
celebration of Real's third goal, when he leapt on to the back
of forward Jose Callejon, and he also clashed with Valencia
players David Albelda and Jordi Alba.
"That's Mourinho," France international Mathieu told a news
conference on Monday. "He did not respect Valencia, these are
things that should be avoided on the pitch."
Valencia were furious with the referee at the end of the
entertaining but ill-tempered match, which maintained Real's
three-point lead over champions Barcelona at the top of the
standings.
The ball appeared to strike Gonzalo Higuain's arm near the
Real goal line deep into second-half added-time but the Valencia
players' appeals for a penalty were waved away before Mourinho
had objects thrown at him from the crowd as he left the pitch.
At an earlier news conference, the former Chelsea and Inter
Milan manager defended himself, saying Valencia should be
"flattered" by the passion of Real's celebrations.
"We celebrated effusively against Valencia because they are
a difficult opponent," Mourinho said.
"People seem to think we're arrogant when we don't celebrate
and we're arrogant when we do," he added.
"They should be flattered by our way of celebrating. You
don't celebrate like that in a normal game against a normal
adversary. We celebrated our goals with emotion and respect."