Jose Mourinho blasted referee Martin Atkinson after a series of contentious decisions, including Nemanja Matic’s red card, saw Chelsea held to a shock 1-1 draw against struggling Burnley.
Matic saw red after reacting furiously to a challenge from Ashley Barnes, but Blues boss Mourinho felt the Burnley player should have been sent off for an earlier incident, and that his team should have had at least two penalties at Stamford Bridge.
To add to Mourinho’s angst, Chelsea lost their composure following the midfielder’s 70th-minute dismissal, with Ben Mee heading home an 81st-minute equaliser to cancel out Branislav Ivanovic’s 14th-minute opening goal.
It also ensured that Chelsea’s “Game for Equality”, in which they put forward a strong anti-racism message following Tuesday’s shocking incident on the Paris Metro, which saw a handful of their fans accused of racially abusing a black commuter, ended in more recriminations.
“This game had four crucial moments,” Mourinho said. “Minute 30, minute 33, minute 43, minute 69.”
The Portuguese was referring, in order, to a challenge from Barnes, a handball in the box from Michael Kightly, a shove from Michael Keane on Diego Costa in the area and then Matic’s red card.
“This is the story of the game,” Mourinho said. “You go through these moments and know exactly what happened in this game. Minute 69 has a big relation with minute 30 because normally the player, if I can call him a player, was involved in minute 30 and minute 31 should be in the shower.
“No minute 69 if the person in charge does it in a proper way in minute 30.”
When asked if Chelsea would appeal, Mourinho responded sarcastically.
“Have you ever seen Chelsea win an appeal? I don’t remember,” he said. “I prefer not to comment because if I comment I’m going to use some words.
“A couple of weeks ago when I was here in the press conference after the Liverpool game in the League Cup, I knew already it was going on and on and on, headlines saying ‘Diego (Costa) crimes’. Compare Diego’s ‘crimes’ with what happened today.”
Mourinho wasn’t smiling though.
“Don’t make me laugh because I’m not in a mood to laugh,” he said.