Jose gets shirty over ‘woolly hat’ affair

Controversial Chelsea manager Jose Mourinho appeared on a talk show in his native Portugal on Monday and lamented the lack of trust he was s...

Controversial Chelsea manager Jose Mourinho appeared on a talk show in his native Portugal on Monday and lamented the lack of trust he was shown over the ‘‘woolly hat’’ affair.

Speaking via a satellite link in an interview and audience question-and-answer session, Mourinho said it was absurd that officials had asked his assistant Rui Faria to lift his hat during Chelsea’s successful Champions League tie against Bayern Munich to prove he was not using an earpiece to receive instructions.

Mourinho had been banned by UEFA from the touchline and from contact with his staff for the two-legged tie following critical statements he made about the conduct of referee Anders Frisk during the previous tie against Barcelona.

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‘‘There was a ridiculous pursuit based on an false notion’’, Mourinho said.

Newspapers had suggested Faria had listened to Mourinho’s instructions and passed notes to his colleagues on the bench. ‘‘The notes that were circulating were ones we had prepared before the game…(the assistants) were organised, prepared. They were communicating amongst themselves’’, he said.

Mourinho, who spent the first half of the show discussing Portuguese football, said he watched the first Bayern game near Chelsea’s Stamford Bridge stadium and the second at his Munich hotel. He said he had no contact with staff or players. ‘‘I did not create any problems for UEFA. I respected their decision to ban me for two games even if I did not think it was at all fair’’, he said.

The normally outspoken Portuguese has been avoiding public pronouncements in England since the Barcelona controversy, after falling out with sections of the British press.

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He is hugely popular in Portugal, where newspapers sell out twice as fast if they carry interviews with him. His photograph is everywhere and he is a leading image used in the country’s best known satirical comedy programme.

Mourinho took Porto to Champions League glory last season and hopes to repeat the feat with Chelsea, who meet Liverpool in the semi-finals next week. Chelsea are also on the verge of winning the Premier League for the first time in 50 years.

Just before the satellite link cut him off as the interview continued well past midnight, Mourinho said he did not yet have the champagne chilling. ‘‘But I would like to win the championship as quickly as possible so I could give some players a rest as we are close to the Champions League semi-finals and they have already played 54 games in four competitions.’’ (Reuters)