Mourinho 'trying not to be critical of refs'

Posted Saturday, August 25, 2012 by Supersport.com

Jose Mourinho appeared in the press room after the Supercup match against Barcelona at the Camp Nou on Thursday.

The Portuguese coach analysed the match, “I didn’t enjoy the first half. Sometimes you play a way you don’t want to. The opponent has the ability to change the game plan you have and Barcelona did that in the first half. They pressed well and didn’t let us play."

"We defended well and we occupied defensive positions, but Barcelona was better. It might appear as though it was a defensive plan, but it wasn’t and we showed that in the second half, where we played completely differently”.

The Real Madrid coach was delighted with how Callejon played: “He played very well. In the first half he didn’t have much impact on the offensive play, because the opponents played in the midfield but in the second half he played very well. He did his job and set up the match so that Di María appeared in a different match."

"I wanted to see Callejon in an important match like this. He is a very good replacement in my opinion and he has shown that he can compete with the rest to be a first team player. He played very well."

The Portuguese coach was asked about his decision to leave Kaka in Madrid: “We brought 18 players for this game, plus Morata and Nacho, in case anything happened in the warm-up. But he didn’t feature in my plans. I knew that if I needed attacking changes I had Higuaín and Di María; I had Granero and Lass for midfield and two defenders, Marcelo and Varane, if I needed any defensive changes. Kaká didn’t feature in my plans”.

Finally, Mourinho spoke about the influence of the heat on the match and the referee’s decision for Barcelona’s first goal: “Everyone experiences the heat. Not just us, and that is why we spent the pre-season in even harsher climates. We also played last week. In the second half the team has played completely differently.

"I didn’t like Barcelona’s first goal because it was a serious mistake from the linesman but it doesn’t matter. I don’t want to criticise the important decisions from the match. I am trying not to be critical throughout the season and less so for the second match."