Mourinho hits out at lack of media respect

Chelsea manager Jose Mourinho has hit out at sections of the British press following an incident in which he was filmed by a member of the public walking around London this week.

Mourinho reacted angrily to being filmed by a young man and used Friday’s news conference to hit back at the coverage it received.

The Portuguese is well known for his entertaining sound bites when speaking to the media but, after a Chelsea spokesperson stated his legal representatives would monitor the filming incident, Mourinho warned his relationship with the press would take a turn for the worse.

“You don’t get from me good and funny headlines because I am going to treat your bosses like they treat me. No respect,” he said.

“Not with football, with football I’m ready to accept every criticism, even stupid ones. But my private life and stupid things that you bring – I don’t say you personally – I don’t like it.

“So we go to a different level of a professional relationship.”

A subdued Mourinho was also asked about his side’s recent upturn in form, having kept clean sheets in the win over Aston Villa and Tuesday’s Champions League draw at Dynamo Kiev.

Eden Hazard and Nemanja Matic have come in for criticism this term for below-par displays, but Mourinho backed both to continue their return to form.

Asked whether Hazard needed to continue working hard for the team, he added: “I don’t have to answer, you have lots of people giving opinions. I prefer not to individualise.

“I am happy with his contribution against Dynamo and that’s it. The Premier League is different [to the Champions League]. It’s 38 matches, lots of points.

“In this moment in the Premier League we are not afraid to lose matches.

“We will play normal [against West Ham on Saturday]. The team performance and the results in the victory against Villa was very good, Dynamo was positive, we could feel some individual perfomances.

“Just to give one example, I don’t like to, but Matic went from being on the bench against Villa to playing the second half positively to being man-of-the-match for UEFA three days later.

“That is one example, but other players also improve performances.”