The Sports Matrix: Friday 29 April 2011

Mourinho faces ban after outburst

Jose Mourinho is under the threat of a Champions League ban following the Real Madrid manager’s comments at the end of Wednesday night’s semi-final against Barcelona. Uefa yesterday opened disciplinary cases against both clubs for events surrounding Barcelona’s 2-0 first-leg win in Madrid. Uefa said that one of the incidents they were investigating was “the inappropriate statement given by Mr Mourinho after the match”. Mourinho was sent to the stands after sarcastically applauding the decision to send off Pepe in the second half. In his post-match press conference he accused Barcelona of repeatedly receiving favourable decisions from referees. Mourinho said that Barcelona “have to finish in the final”, and that their coach Pep Guardiola should feel “ashamed” for having benefited from refereeing decisions as much as he has. “One day,” he said, “I would like Pep Guardiola to win this competition properly.” He then said he was “disgusted” to work in football. MORE

Ancelotti will pair Drogba and Torres

Carlo Ancelotti denied that it would be a risk to pair Fernando Torres and Didier Drogba in a 4-4-2 formation again. “When you have good players,” he said, “you have to try to put them together. If you are able to do this, I think it is good for the team.” MORE

Robinson may quit if Rovers go down

Paul Robinson may leave Blackburn in the summer if they are relegated. “As long as we remain a Premier League club, I will be here next season,” he said yesterday, “otherwise, we’ll deal with that in the summer.” Blackburn play Bolton tomorrow. MORE

Tevez talks must wait, says Mancini

Manchester City manager Roberto Mancini has put this season’s objectives ahead of any transfer or contract speculation surrounding Carlos Tevez. “After we have won the FA Cup and if we go into the Champions League, we can talk to him about this,” he said. MORE

Wenger: Lost final ended our season

Arsène Wenger admits Arsenal’s lack of trophies was due to the Carling Cup final defeat, after which they “missed a little bit of that subconscious belief”. Arsenal then went on a poor run that cost them three competitions. MORE

Pulis’s final hope for Etherington

Tony Pulis will give Matthew Etherington the best chance of playing in the FA Cup final on 14 May. “He’s got a torn hamstring,” Pulis said, “and we’ll know better in seven days how much chance he’s got of playing. We’ve got to do our damnedest.” MORE

Falcao puts Porto on brink of final

Four goals from Falcao put Porto 5-1 up after the first leg of their semi-final against Villarreal. The Spanish side went ahead through Cani but Falcao’s haul ensured the Portuguese side take a big lead to Spain. Benfica beat Braga 2-1 in the other semi-final.

Kervezee ton lifts Worcester hopes

Alexei Kervezee scored 123 not out yesterday for Worcestershire against Nottinghamshire on the third day at Trent Bridge. The 21-year-old right-hander, born in Namibia, put the visitors into a lead of 189 over the county champions. MORE

Foden promises to change behaviour

Ben Foden “deeply regrets” his recent arrest after reportedly causing criminal damage to a taxi and has vowed to improve his conduct in future. “I’m not the perfect man and things can happen,” he said, “but I know now that I have to be more careful.” MORE

Radcliffe tests 2012 marathon course

Paula Radcliffe will race on the streets of London next month, testing out the marathon course for the 2012 Olympic Games. She will run in the London 10,000m road race on 30 May against European 5,000m and 10,000m champion Mo Farah. MORE

Westwood six off Ballantine’s pace

Lee Westwood double-bogeyed the final hole of his first round at the Ballantine’s Championship in South Korea yesterday, to finish six shots behind the leader. “I’m still in contention,” the world No 1 said afterwards, “on the first 15 holes I played very nicely.” MORE

Trump ahead of Ding in semi-final

Judd Trump moved into a 5-3 lead over world No 4 Ding Junhui after the first session of their World Championship semi-final last night. The 21-year-old was 3-1 ahead before a Ding recovery, but restored his two-frame lead ahead of this morning’s session. MORE

James Lawton

It is absurd only Jose Mourinho is blamed for the disfiguring of football on Wednesday. Nothing that came as a result of his tactics was uglier than the play-acting of Barça’s Dani Alves, Sergio Busquets and Pedro. MORE