Mourinho Infuriated As Chelsea Salvage Unbeaten Record
Manchester United manager Jose Mourinho had to be restrained by stewards in the aftermath of Ross Barkley’s 96th minute equaliser to salvage Chelsea’s unbeaten record under Maurizio Sarri in a thrilling 2-2 draw at Stamford Bridge.
Mourinho took exception to the celebrations of one of Sarri’s backroom staff, Marco Ianni, who ran in front of the Portuguese on the touchline, as he seemed set for a sweet victory over his old club after Anthony Martial scored twice to cancel out Antonio Rudiger’s opener.
Players and coaches from both benches had to separated in a melee after Barkley’s late strike.
Mourinho also then gestured with three fingers towards the Chelsea fans in reference to the three Premier League titles he won for the club in two spells in charge.
A draw is more than Mourinho got on his three previous returns to Stamford Bridge as United boss.
But his frustration at blowing what could have been a huge win was obvious as the visitors remain seven points adrift of Chelsea, and could fall nine points behind Manchester City and Liverpool should they win their respective fixtures later Saturday.
Amid reports he was set to face the axe, Mourinho had been handed a lifeline by a stirring fightback from 2-0 down to beat Newcastle 3-2 before the international break a fortnight ago.
Martial was rewarded for coming off the bench to score in that game as rather than opt for his cautious nature, Mourinho named an adventurous line-up also featuring Juan Mata, Marcus Rashford and Romelu Lukaku.
And his gamble looked set to pay off despite falling behind to a Chelsea side now unbeaten in their first 12 games under Sarri.
Lukaku had the first significant chance of the game when he headed Luke Shaw’s fine cross high and wide.
At the other end, United attempted to stop the outstanding player of the Premier League season so far with some rough treatment as Nemanja Matic and Ashley Young were shown early yellow cards for chopping down Eden Hazard.
However, when Shaw cut out a dangerous low cross from the Belgian on 21 minutes, the visitors were undone by a lack of concentration from Paul Pogba.
