Jose Mourinho revelled in the shackling of Luis Suarez after Chelsea showed their Premier League title credentials with a 2-1 defeat of Liverpool.
In Suarez’s first match with Chelsea since April’s infamous bite on Branislav Ivanovic earned him a 10-match ban, Mourinho’s side deprived the prolific striker of scoring opportunities and took full advantage to win 2-1 and move two points behind leaders Arsenal.
“The team did a very good job collectively,” Mourinho said.
“It was more about my team defending really well with 10 players than specifically this one or that one.”
Mourinho criticised Suarez for “doing an acrobatic swimming pool jump” and showing his “wild nature” in trying to win a penalty at Stamford Bridge.
A frustrated Suarez felt he had been fouled by Samuel Eto’o in the penalty box, but Mourinho disagreed, making a diving gesture and insisting simulation must be outlawed from the British game.
Mourinho said: “Suarez lost a duel with (Cesar) Azpilicueta, Azpilicueta has the ball and is leaving the box with the ball and now he’s doing an acrobatic swimming pool jump to try to get the penalty.
“But (referee Howard) Webb is 10 metres away. And I think the only mistake Webb did was not to give him a yellow card.”
When pressed, Mourinho admitted there may have been contact between Eto’o and Suarez, “when the ball is 10 metres away with Azpilicueta”, though he had earlier stated on Sky Sports 1 that Suarez went down “like somebody shot him”.
Suarez was praised by Mourinho in the build up, but was unable to score his 20th Premier League goal of the season on his 14th appearance as Martin Skrtel's fourth-minute goal was cancelled out by a brilliant Eden Hazard strike and Eto'o poked in a first-half winner.
But Mourinho wants the Uruguayan to end his penchant for going to ground.
“The player is amazing,” the Portuguese added.
“But when the situation is like this and you are losing comes the nature of the player, the wild nature of the player or the cultural nature of the player.”
John Terry, who knows how to win Premier League titles, was one of the men responsible for starving Suarez of chances on his 600th Chelsea appearance.
Mourinho said: “Everything he’s getting is not because he’s my man or because he’s my friend or because I respect him from my first period here.
“No, he’s getting these minutes because he’s playing fantastically well.
“More important than the accumulation of the 600 matches is the fact that he’s played every minute of the 19 matches this season. Only him and Petr, and Petr is the goalie.
“He’s the only outfield player to have played 19 times 90 minutes which is amazing for a player that last season lots of people thought he was going down.”
sport@thenational.ae
