Real Madrid coach Jose Mourinho slammed “hypocrisy in football” on Tuesday on learning he faces a potential suspension after the Spanish Football Federation (RFEF) opened a disciplinary inquiry into his Super Cup fracas with Barcelona assistant coach Tito Vilanova.
Mourinho said last week he was not sorry for poking Vilanova in the eye in the final moments of their 3-2 loss, which gave Barca an overall 5-4 aggregate triumph, but after television images and press photos gave the incident widespread coverage, the Federation moved to act.
Madrid say that Mourinho was responding to a series of provocations and insults from the Barca bench after tensions boiled over at the Camp Nou.
Photo: AFP
The RFEF’s disciplinary committee said it had opened an inquiry against Mourinho for his behavior, which could breach two articles of the body’s disciplinary code.
If the committee finds against Mourinho he could be suspended for between four and 12 matches based on the first article and between four and 10 on the basis of the second.
He could additionally be fined if found to have engaged in “serious misconduct.”
Vilanova faces a four-match ban if he is found to have engaged in conduct deemed “contrary to good sporting order.”
Both men will now be given an opportunity to explain their actions.
Mourinho promptly got his retaliation in early in the form of a letter published on Real’s Web site in which he apologized specifically to Real fans — but nobody else.
“I ... wish to apologize to Madridistas, and only to them, for my attitude in our last game. Some people are better adapted to the hypocrisy in football than I am, and they hide their faces and speak in whispers deep inside tunnels,” Mourinho wrote. “I’m not learning to be a hypocrite and I don’t want to.”
Mourinho also -dismissed rumors surfacing in the media suggesting that he might even quit Madrid after the furor which followed another ugly spat between Real and Barca during the Champions League semi-final earlier this year.
On that occasion, Mourinho belittled Barca coach Pep Guardiola’s achievements in winning the 2009 Champions League after first creeping past the Portuguese coach’s former side Chelsea, who were denied several penalties, before going out to a last-gasp goal.
“Only those who don’t know me can dream, make up or believe I may leave Real Madrid at this stage,” Mourinho wrote.
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