SIGNS OF TENSION

Last updated : 24 February 2005 By editor

In an echo of Mourhino's outburst at the Carling semi-final match at Stamford Bridge the Chelsea manager stomped off out of Camp Nou claiming that Barca had cheated there way to beating his team leaving a trail of dummies and broken toys in his wake.

From The Guardian:

'Chelsea will today submit an official complaint to Uefa about a half-time tunnel incident in their defeat to Barcelona.

Chelsea's manager Jose Mourinho was furious when Barcelona's coach Frank Rijkaard engaged the referee Anders Frisk in conversation. Mourinho broke Uefa protocol in declining to face the press after the match, Chelsea instead issuing a terse statement. "First of all our apologies that there are no members of the Chelsea management team or players talking after this game," said their director of communications Simon Greenberg. "We will be submitting an official complaint to Uefa about an incident that occurred at half-time. That is all we have to say."

Rijkaard freely admitted to a half-time exchange with Frisk.

"I was there, I talked with the referee and the reaction of the Chelsea side kind of exaggerated it all," he said. "I talked to the referee really politely, nothing in particular; they were upset about that. They started the thing for me; nothing happened and if something did happen it is because of them. They were upset, maybe because of me talking to the referee," he told Sky Sports.

"I don't understand it; I am curious in what will be their complaint. They definitely didn't hear me speak. I said [to Frisk] 'Hello, pleased to see you,' something about the game, not in an aggressive way; I just said hello and nothing more. They are inventing something that didn't happen. It now seems even more ridiculous to me."