Jose Mourinho blasts critics for being envious of Chelsea and defends actions of players in PSG loss

VIDEO: Chelsea boss Jose Mourinho hit back at his team’s critic with a remarkable attack at a media conference on Friday.

Chelsea v Paris Saint-Germain - UEFA Champions League Round of 16

CHELSEA boss Jose Mourinho hit back at his team’s critics, including TV pundits Graeme Souness and Jamie Carragher, with a remarkable attack at a media conference on Friday.

Former Liverpool stars Souness and Carragher had hammered Chelsea’s players for their behaviour in the Champions League exit against Paris Saint-Germain, where their reaction was thought to have contributed to a sending off of Zlatan Imbrahimovic.

Souness called Chelsea “pathetic” and Carragher said they were “disgraceful”.

Mourinho hit back in typical blunt fashion: “You know ... the world is a bit strange. Maybe because of diet and maybe the quality of the products we are eating, memories are getting shorter. Because, you know, when Jamie Carragher and Graeme Souness speak about it, it’s because they are having a problem for sure.

LOZlatan Ibrahimovic of PSG holds his hand up in acknowledgment.

“The game finished. Just to close the chapter on the Champions League, the game finished and I was in the tunnel. One by one, not just the players but the coaches and everybody from PSG, I shook their hands. I told them they deserved it. I wished them good luck for the future. This was the way we behave after a defeat. This is the example my players get after a defeat.

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“I went to my dressing room, I put everybody together — not just the players — and because I am normally very calm and deserve to go home and reflect and think and speak without any doubt or emotion, this is what we do.

“We also spoke in that moment about our future: to try and win the PL and, if we do that, a season with a PL and a COC is a brilliant season. A brilliant season. This is the way I am, the way I work. I’m not like people want me to be, or like people like to describe me. I’m like that.

“Jamie stopped playing a couple of years ago and, in two years, he forget everything he did on the pitch. Mr Souness also, but he stopped playing a long times ago. I coached Benfica, I know a lot about him, so much about him.

“But I’m a certain kind of education, not just in football but in life, and I prefer to laugh. Envy is the biggest tribute that the shadows do to the man. It’s about life.”

Referee Bjorn Kuipers of the Netherlands shows a straight red card to Zlatan Ibrahimovic.

Mourinho backed his players behaviour this season and said they would have to pay the fines if the club gets charged for surrounding referees in future.

“If they surround the referee we are charged and we have to pay a fine, and if we do that the players pay the fine,” said Mourinho.

The English side was criticised after nine of its players surrounded referee Bjorn Kuipers to persuade him to punish Ibrahimovic for fouling Oscar.

Ibrahimovic, who was given a straight red card, described the Chelsea players as “babies” for their reaction.

UEFA has announced it will review his red card with the possibility of rescinding a ban.

The only time Chelsea has been charged this season for failing to control its players was after the 1-0 win over Everton in the Premier League last month. Late in that game, Chelsea’s players reacted to a foul on Willian, and Branislav Ivanovic escaped punishment for appearing to wrap his arm around Everton midfielder James McCarthy’s neck.

Chelsea captain John Terry said after the game against Paris Saint-Germain, which finished in a 2-2 draw that qualified the French team for the quarterfinals, that badgering the referee is “part of the game.”

“It’s there and you have to stick up for your teammates,” said Terry, who led the protests against Ibrahimovic. “The fans want to see that and that’s the same with every side. Every other side is as bad as each other.”

Mourinho wouldn’t comment any further about the incident Friday.

Chelsea goes into Sunday’s match against Southampton holding a five-point lead in the Premier League and with a game in hand.

“For many months, we played better than everyone. In that moment, you were all saying Chelsea was a candidate to win the Champions League,” Mourinho said. “We cannot play fantastic all season and we had our lowest point in a moment we couldn’t have. We lost the game (against PSG), we are out of the competition.”

Originally published as Jose Mourinho blasts critics for being envious of Chelsea and defends actions of players in PSG loss