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Latest update: 21/03/2009
- football - Inter Milan - Italy
Inter Milan's coach fined for attacking referees
Inter Milan coach Jose Mourinho was fined 25,000 euros for allegations made against Italian officials. He said they made decisions on the pitch in favor of Juventus Turin, which follows Inter Milan in the Italian championship.
REUTERS - Inter Milan and Jose Mourinho have been fined 25,000 euros ($34,240) each after the Portuguese coach alleged Juventus benefited from mistakes by officials this season, the Italian Soccer Federation (FIGC) said on Friday.
Mourinho's allegations were made amid controversy after a 3-3 Serie A draw with AS Roma at the San Siro earlier this month following a row over a hotly-disputed penalty.
He said his rivals had manipulated public opinion against the league leaders and that second-placed Juventus, demoted in a match-fixing scandal in 2006, had benefited from refereeing errors. Juve reacted furiously to Mourinho's comments.
Roma's Daniele De Rossi and his club were also each handed 20,000 euro fines after the midfielder suggested in post-match interviews that Serie A referees were biased and also alleged Inter's Mario Balotelli dived to win a penalty in their draw.
The FIGC disciplinary commission also said in a statement that it was not in a position to rule on charges that Balotelli had made offensive gestures to an opponent in the game.
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Comments (1)
Jose Morinho fine for abusing referees.
Unfortunately this is a development of professional sport, where it is not only the players on the pitch that try to influence the outcomes of games. Morinho probably learnt this from Manchester United's manager, Sir Alec Fergusson, who has been playing these 'mind games' in the English Premiership for many years and applied them to Morinho when he was managing Chelsea. Similarly Rafa Benitez has also tried to compete this year in pushing Liverpool's claims forward and complaining bitterly that Man U are treated better by referees than other clubs. Arsene Wenger at Arsenal has also uttered similar comments and emulates Fergusson in only seeing indiscretions against HIS team!