Fourteen red cards
José Mourinho doesn’t adjust to defeat very well. The Chelsea manager is, however, an accomplished author of excuses. After the London club lost to Real Betis by a single goal in November’s Champions League match, Mourinho claimed that “the ballboys disappeared” as the final whistle approached. Foreigners add such creativity to the British game.
Although it seemed fanciful at the time, recent events seem to confirm that this was not a case of post-match paranoia.
On Saturday evening, Atlético de Madrid encountered a similar problem as they trailed Betis 1-0. With time ticking away, the Betis ballboys seemed increasingly uninterested in fetching and carrying for the players from the capital. This sideline strike action was allegedly carried out on the instructions of club officials.
As the game entered injury time, referee Miguel Ángel Ayza Gómez decided that he had seen enough. All fourteen Andalusian urchins were sent packing with a flash of the red card. Obviously this was labour intensive compared to simply adding time onto the clock, but infinitely more enjoyable for the man in black.