Real Madrid news

Mourinho set for media silence

May 7, 2011

Real Madrid assistant coach Aitor Karanka says Jose Mourinho has been left in the dark as to the official reason he was handed a five-match ban by UEFA and that he does not intend to speak to the media until an explanation is given.

Aitor Karanka
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Mourinho gets five-match ban
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European football's governing body announced Mourinho's suspension on Friday among a series of punishments meted out to both Madrid and Barcelona for incidents during last week's ill-tempered Champions League semi-final first leg between the Spanish rivals.

According to a statement on the UEFA website: "Madrid coach Jose Mourinho, who was dismissed from the bench in the first leg and made an inappropriate statement at the post-match interview, has been suspended for the next five UEFA club competition matches for which he would otherwise be eligible."

However, Madrid and Karanka both subsequently said they had not received an explanation from UEFA for Mourinho's ban.

In announcing they would be appealing the ruling, Madrid said in a statement: "Real Madrid considers this resolution still suffers from the same defects found at the start of the disciplinary case, which made it impossible for our coach to use his right to defend himself, since the exact statements for which the disciplinary case was opened are still unknown."

Karanka, who took Friday night's press conference in place of Mourinho, echoed that point, saying: "We still don't know the reason for the sanction.

"The club have already announced they are going to appeal and, on a personal level, Mourinho is going to defend himself and he will fight to the end."

Karanka also suggested Mourinho would not appear before the media again until he receives an explanation from UEFA.

"It's UEFA who have sanctioned him and as of right now they haven't communicated the reason why they have sanctioned the coach," he said. "It's his decision [not to speak to the press], like every time that I've come out. Both he and the club are going to defend themselves for justice and defend themselves from what has happened. He doesn't want to talk or make a comment.

"We aren't going to look to what will happen next week. The idea is that until [his punishment] is specified or [he] is given a concrete reason, he won't come out [to speak]."

Mourinho, who was sent off in the first leg for his reaction to Pepe's second-half red card, caused a huge controversy with his comments in both press conferences before and after the match.

Prior to the game he hit out at opposite number Pep Guardiola and then following his side's 2-0 defeat he insinuated Barca receive favourable treatment from UEFA and claimed the Catalan club had yet to win a "clean" Champions League title under Guardiola.

The former Inter Milan boss, whose side ended up being knocked out of the Champions League 3-1 on aggregate to Barca, has already served a one-match ban and another is suspended, meaning he will miss Madrid's first three European games next season.

Mourinho was also fined €50,000 by UEFA's control and disciplinary body for his sending-off and comments after the first leg, while midfielder Pepe has been given a one-game ban, which he served in the second leg, for his dismissal.

Madrid were also fined €20,000 for the behaviour of their fans, while Barcelona reserve 'keeper Jose Pinto, who was red-carded after a scuffle at half-time at the Bernabeu, was given a three-game ban by UEFA.

Like Madrid, Barcelona have announced they will appeal against that punishment, which would rule Pinto out of the Champions League final against Manchester United.