José Mourinho hits out at La Liga chiefs after Real stalemate

Posted Tuesday, March 01, 2011 by Thesportreview.com

Real Madrid boss blasts La Liga schedule after his side were held to goalless draw at Deportivo La Coruña

José Mourinho hits out at La Liga chiefs after Real stalemate
José Mourinho's side are seven points behind leaders Barcelona

Real Madrid manager José Mourinho slammed Spanish football’s congested fixture schedule after his side were held to a goalless draw at Deportivo La Coruña on Saturday.

The result saw Madrid, who had travelled to Lyon for the first leg of their last-16 Champions League tie last Tuesday, fall seven points behind leaders Barcelona.

The Madrid boss was furious his side’s league clash at the Estadio Riazor was not rescheduled for Sunday to give his players an extra day’s rest.

“The schedulers are laughing behind my back,” said Mourinho. “The people who told us to play on Saturday knew what they were doing.

“The team seemed tired. I will always defend the interests of my fans and Real Madrid. So I will keep saying the timing is wrong.”

Cristiano Ronaldo saw his effort rebound off the post in the dying moments and Mourinho believes his side were unlucky not to find the net.

“In the second half we played against a keeper and 10 defenders,” said the former Chelsea coach. “I can’t criticise my team because we did everything to win. Only one team wanted to win – the other worked with all their strength to defend.”

Barcelona stretched their unbeaten sequence of league games to 23 with a 3-0 victory at Real Mallorca earlier on Saturday to open up a sizeable lead over Madrid with 13 games to go, but Mourinho insists his side are still in the La Liga title race.

“The league is not lost,” he added. “Seven points is a lot but we will continue to fight.”