Real Madrid coach Jose Mourinho produced an astonishing attack on referee Wolfgang Stark following his side's 2-0 defeat at home to Barcelona in the first leg of their Champions League semifinal clash.
Leo Messi scored twice in the last 15 minutes to give Barcelona a huge stride toward the final in Wembley at the end of May. Barcelona enjoyed over 70 percent of possession and played the last 30 minutes of the game with a player more than Madrid after Pepe was shown a direct red card for an ugly challenge on Barca's Dani Alves.
Pepe hit Alves on the shin with a full set of studs and after separating both sets of complaining players, Stark sent him off. The German then sent Mourinho off for his complaints and the Madrid coach will now be suspended for next Tuesday's return leg in Barca's Camp Nou.
Speaking directly after the game, Mourinho was furious with the result and questioned all of Barcelona's success in Europe.
"If I said to the referee and UEFA what I feel at the moment, my career would be over," began Mourinho, who then implied Barcelona had used their influence to gain favourable refereeing decisions in recent seasons in Europe.
"We are talking about a fantastic football team, but why didn't Chelsea go to the final (two years ago); how did Inter get there last year with 10 men? It was a miracle," said Mourinho.
"Today I don't know why we have a player sent off. I don't know if it is for UNICEF (who sponsor Barcelona), I don't understand. I congratulate a great team, but also for everything they have behind them because it must be hard to have this power," he complained.
"(Inter Milan midfielder) Thiago Motta was sent off last year and this year Arsenal had (Samr) Nasri suspended and (Robin) Van Persie send off against Barca - I don't know why," he complained.
Madrid were outplayed by Barcelona before Pepe's red card, as Mourinho's tactics allowed the Catalan's to dominate possession, but the Madrid coach insisted that the sending off had decided not just the game, but also the tie.
"Maybe we could have drawn the first game 0-0 and Barca would have won the return leg with merit, but not like this. We are out of the final. We will go to Barcelona with our pride and respect for football, but at times it is not nice to live in this world. If we can score the first goal we could leave the tie open, but they will kill us again. It is clear from today that we have no chance," he insisted.
"You can win or draw, but the referee didn't let us. I have won the Champions League twice and I won them on the pitch with Porto and Inter Milan. (Barca coach) Josep Guardiola is a great coach, but he won a Champions League that I would be embarrassed to win, because he won it after the scandal in Stamford Bridge (two years ago) and if he wins this year, he will win after this scandal in the Bernabeu," concluded Mourinho.