Liverpool legends Jamie Carragher and Graeme Souness have launched a scathing attack on Jose Mourinho’s Chelsea, following their elmination from the Champions League at the hands of Paris St Germain last night.
The pair were working as pundits for Sky Sports coverage of the game, and were unhappy with the manner in which Chelsea players surrounded the referee to influence the decision to send of PSG forward Zlatan Ibrahimovic in the first half.
Despite being down to ten men for an hour and a half however, PSG went through on away goals after a 2-2 draw at Stamford Bridge following extra time.
Carragher said: “The reaction from the Chelsea players is disgraceful.
“It’s something that is sad that is coming into the game. It comes from I think Jose Mourinho’s teams, they have this reaction, it’s not a one off.
“I always think with Mourinho’s teams that they will always be respected but they’ll never be loved because of situations like this.
“They take winning to another level that no other team or manager does that I’ve seen over the years.
“We all want to win but the reaction of the Chelsea players has definitely played a part [in the sending off].”
Meanwhile, former Liverpool hero Souness was also scathing in his assessment of Chelsea’s antics.
“This PSG team is just full of technique, a really good footballing team and they had to put up with stuff which I find really, really unappealing,” he said.
“The reaction of the Chelsea players on the challenge on Oscar epitomised what I’m saying. To a man they surrounded the referee, (Diego) Costa ran 50 yards to get involved.
“That is something we can do without, that is not the British way of doing things, it’s creeping into our game, which is, I find, totally unacceptable.
“When you played, the last thing you wanted to show was that you were injured.
“Today is the exact opposite of that, someone brushes you, you want to go down and try and get them in trouble. That’s how pathetic it is.
“We saw a bit of that in the first half and thank goodness the PSG team stood up to that and they leave here with credit. They’re a proper team.”
