By Brian Homewood
Champions League semi-final first leg match against Bayern Munich, April 17, 2012. REUTERS/Michaela Rehle
MUNICH (Reuters) – Jose Mourinho refused to comment on the performance of
English referee Howard Webb in his side’s 2-1 Champions League semi-final first leg defeat by Bayern Munich on Tuesday,
except to say that the Bavarians’ first goal was offside.
“I don’t criticise the referee, I accept his decisions,”
Mourinho, who has a reputation for doing exactly the opposite, told reporters.
“They scored a goal which should have
been disallowed but that doesn’t give me any reason to criticise.
“A draw would have been a fairer result. This is
football, whoever scores wins and the game ends when it ends, nothing else.”
“It’s not a terrible result,” he added
after Bayern snatched a win with a last-minute goal.
“We wanted to win, you start to feel it’s going to be difficult,
the two teams were tired, there was a lot of fighting for the ball and when it seemed it would be a draw, they
scored.”
Although it was a fractious encounter, Bayern’s 66-year-old coach Jupp Heynckes thought it used to be worse
in the old days.
“It’s the semi-final of the Champions League, so it was always going to be a physical match and both
teams showed that,” he said.
“When I think of the old European Cup, especially against Italian teams, those were hard
fights back then, often very difficult.
“I think the referee, apart from a few incidents, had a good game.”
