Mourinho was quick to play down an incident that took place in the closing stages of Chelsea’s defeat of Queen’s Park Rangers on Sunday. After Cesc Fabregas scored the winner for the Blues, objects appeared to rain down on the Chelsea players from the stands.
Coins and plastic bottles seemed to be amongst the things hurled towards the Chelsea players, and Branislav Ivanovic held his neck in pain when a lighter struck him.
Mourinho, however, didn’t want to make too big a deal of it; saying after the match: “If, at the end of the game, someone threw a pound coin, put it in your pocket. If someone threw a chocolate, eat it. It is no problem. Everybody needs a pound”.
Though his response might have been slightly tongue in cheek, the Portuguese manager had some sympathy with the difficult job the referee had to control such a highly charged occasion. He said, “The game was correct in the pitch and correct in the stands. It is not easy in an emotional game.”
He was far more forgiving than the QPR manager Chris Ramsey, who came down hard on the perpetrators of the offence. He stated, “I don’t know what happened and I didn’t see it, but if that’s the case [that things were thrown] we don’t want those people back in the club”.
The win over their London rivals put Chelsea 7 points clear of Arsenal with a game in hand, meaning they are one step closer to another Premier League title. If they win their game in hand then they’ll be 10 points clear with 18 points left to play for. Another 3 victories from their remaining fixtures will be enough for Mourinho to win his third title with the West London club.