Soccer:Uefa have opened disciplinary cases against Real Madrid and Barcelona over incidents during last night's Champions League semi-final, European football's governing body have said.
Uefa announced that Madrid will answer five charges relating to the throwing of missiles, a pitch invasion, Pepe’s red card, the dismissal of coach Jose Mourinho and the “inappropriate statement” given by the Portuguese manager at the post-match press conference.
Barca, who won the game 2-0 thanks to a pair of Lionel Messi strikes, will face just one charge after substitute goalkeeper Jose Pinto was shown a red card during the half-time melee.
The cases will be heard by Uefa’s control and disciplinary body on Friday, May 6th.
Barcelona later confirmed they would report Mourinho to Uefa over his comments after he implied the Catalan giants receive favourable treatment from referees and claimed the club had yet to win a “clean” Champions League title under Pep Guardiola.
The outburst came shortly after the final whistle at the Bernabeu with the Portuguese particularly angry at the dismissal of makeshift midfielder Pepe for a challenge on Dani Alves.
In a statement, Barcelona said: “At the press conference after the game, Real Madrid coach Jose Mourinho harshly criticised referee Wolfgang Stark and suggested Barcelona receive favourable treatment. The legal services of FC Barcelona are considering reporting the Real Madrid coach to the disciplinary commission of Uefa.”
Last night, Mourinho said: “Today it’s clear that against Barcelona you have no chance.
“I don’t understand why. I don’t know if it’s the publicity of Unicef (the club’s shirt sponsor), I don’t know if it’s the friendship of (Spanish football federation president Angel Maria) Villar at Uefa, where he is vice-president, I don’t know if it’s because they are very nice, but they have got this power. The rest of us have no chance.”
He added: “Guardiola is a fantastic coach, but he has won one Champions League which I would be ashamed to win after the scandal at Stamford Bridge and this year, if he wins it again, it will be after the scandal at the Bernabeu. I hope that one day he will win a clean Champions League, with no incidents behind it.”
