Images ‘worth a thousand words’

Real Madrid coach Jose Mourinho vowed to stop talking about the Champions League encounter with Barcelona and his own post-match tirade, saying images of the game will speak for themselves.

“A picture is worth a thousand words and as there are so many pictures, I am not going to speak any more about what happened,” he told a news conference yesterday.

“Those who criticise my words criticise the pictures. And whoever does that thinks that the pictures are retouched with Fotoshop and are manufactured videos.

“As that is not the case, I feel calm and I’ll continue working.”

UEFA on Thursday announced it had launched a disciplinary inquiry into events surrounding Wednesday’s unruly Champions League semi-final tie between Real Madrid and Barcelona.

One of the incidents being investigated is Mourinho’s post-match outburst in which the Portuguese coach suggested referees always showed favouritism to Barcelona, who won 2-0 in Madrid to take a huge step towards the final.

Mourinho also came under fire from Barcelona, who on Thursday announced they were lodging an official complaint with European football’s governing body over his tirade.

Real Madrid countered by issuing their own complaint to UEFA over what they termed Barcelona’s persistent unsporting behaviour during the match, claiming that Barca players continually over-reacted and went to ground at the slightest excuse.

Mourinho was enraged by a straight red card issued to centre-back Pepe for a tackle on Dani Alves, saying it was another example of bias toward Barca.

The Real Madrid coach said: “It shouldn’t have been a red card for Pepe. Maybe someone can give me an answer. A foul on a Barcelona player and miraculously a red card.

“I don’t know if Barcelona are friendly or not. They are a great team so congratulations to them but they have this power. Pepe sent off and me too. I don’t know why.”