The extraordinary feud between Jose Mourinho and Uefa took another serious turn yesterday when the governing body of European football told the Chelsea coach to "shut up" after he accused the referee Anders Frisk of "helping" Barcelona in their first leg Champions' League victory in the Nou Camp.
The extraordinary feud between Jose Mourinho and Uefa took another serious turn yesterday when the governing body of European football told the Chelsea coach to "shut up" after he accused the referee Anders Frisk of "helping" Barcelona in their first leg Champions' League victory in the Nou Camp.
Relations between the continent's wealthiest club and Uefa have sunk to an all-time low after Mourinho's allegations that Frisk had favoured Barcelona and that the governing body had "misrepresented" what he had said about selecting a referee for last night's second leg.
Mourinho has simply refused to back down to Uefa, despite its two outstanding charges against Chelsea from the first leg, but his words at Stamford Bridge on Monday have provoked an unprecedented response from an organisation which, typically, is staid.
The Uefa director of communications, William Gaillard, said yesterday that Mourinho should "shut up and get on with the game" and did not rule out yet another disciplinary charge against the Chelsea coach. Club officials are now considering whether to intervene to head off further trouble for their outspoken Portuguese coach.
The dispute began with Frisk's alleged conversation with Frank Rijkaard in his private changing-room at half-time in the Nou Camp which so infuriated Mourinho that he decided to make an official complaint and refused to speak to the press after the match. His anger was compounded by the second-half dismissal of Didier Drogba by the Swedish official for a dubious second yellow card.
Mourinho is reported to have said last week that he would like the referee Pierluigi Collina to take charge of the second leg - a move that angered Uefa.
The organisation said that it had already selected the Italian for the match and that Mourinho had placed it in an impossible position by expressing an opinion on the official he wanted to see in charge of the game.
In response, Mourinho said on Monday that Uefa had "misrepresented" his words about Collina and then went a step further. He accused Frisk of favouring Barcelona, an allegation that the governing body has taken extremely seriously and one which appears to have touched a very raw nerve.
Perhaps the most unusual element of the dispute has been Uefa's willingness to continue rebutting Mourinho with increasingly robust statements. The policy has been led by Gaillard, their new director of communications, who has shown an appetite for controversy hitherto unheard of among Uefa officials.
The multilingual Frenchman has been as willing as his adversary at Stamford Bridge to enter into fierce exchanges and has not couched his language in the bureaucratic terms usually favoured by representatives of the conservative Swiss-based organisation. Yesterday Gaillard said: "What Jose Mourinho does not seem to understand is that if he says, 'I want this referee and this other one influenced the game against us', then he puts us in an impossible position.
"Imagine if Fabio Capello, Arsène Wenger or Carlo Ancelotti went around saying that all the time. What I find very unpleasant is for him to say, 'I want Collina'.
"Our independent referees' committee had met the day before he said that and decided it would be Collina - after he says that, do we then withdraw Collina because Mr Mourinho has said he wanted him, or do we keep him to show we don't care what he says?
"Let's leave behind what happened in Barcelona and stop the polemics and stop casting more doubt on the honesty of Anders Frisk, who we have known for years is an outstanding referee. You can see from his record that he is not a 'homer' and that he is ready to be tough on home teams.
"It's time to shut up and get on with the game between two great coaches in what should be a fantastic match."
The escalation of the dispute has been a cause for alarm at Chelsea who are still dealing with the fall-out from the first leg. They have been charged by Uefa with failing to attend a post-match press conference and also for their players coming on to the field late. In addition, they have complained about Rijkaard's behaviour at half-time.
Uefa is not alone in falling out with Mourinho this season. The Football Association has charged Chelsea with failing to control their fans during their Carling Cup tie with West Ham and has also charged them with failing to control their players during a Premiership game against Blackburn Rovers at Ewood Park.
Mourinho will have to answer an FA misconduct charge after calling Manchester United's players "cheats" in an interview given to Chelsea TV after the Carling Cup semi-final at Stamford Bridge.
The Premier League is also expected to set a date soon for the disciplinary commission hearing over the alleged illegal approach to Arsenal's Ashley Cole.
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