Soccer: Chelsea face ban for bringing game into disrepute

Jose Mourinho was accused of lying by Uefa yesterday when European football's governing body served the Chelsea manager with a disrepute charge that could result in him being fined and banned from the touchline for the Champions' League quarter-final against Bayern Munich.

In a damning attack on the integrity of Mourinho and Chelsea, Uefa left open the possibility of the club being thrown out of the Champions' League for "false declarations" in their version of events at half-time against Barcelona last month.

While that remains unlikely, Chelsea have been left in no doubt as to how seriously Uefa regards their behaviour in a saga that has caused the retirement of the referee that night, Anders Frisk.

The disrepute charge is based on the testimonies of Mourinho, his assistant Steve Clarke and the security official Les Miles, who claimed that they saw the Barcelona coach, Frank Rijkaard, enter the private room of Frisk at half-time at the Nou Camp.

Uefa claims that the allegations about the Swedish referee, who retired over threats made to him as a result of controversy surrounding the match, could not possibly have been true.

The Switzerland-based body said that the three Chelsea men had made "false declarations" in the evidence they submitted after the first leg match against Barcelona on 23 February.

The Uefa statement continued: "By further disseminating these wrong and unfounded statements, Chelsea FC allowed its technical staff to deliberately create a poisoned and negative ambience amongst the teams and to put pressure on the refereeing officials."

The case, which will be a severe embarrassment to the Chelsea hierarchy, will be heard by an independent disciplinary body in Nyon on Thursday next week and is likely to result in a severe punishment for the Stamford Bridge club.

A source at Uefa said yesterday that Chelsea had "contradicted themselves" in their report and that the governing body had "evidence to show that Chelsea are wrong".

On the night of the game, Mourinho refused to talk to the press, but the club said that they would make a formal complaint about the incidents at half-time, the contents of which have never been made formally public.

However, it is understood Chelsea made the accusations about Frisk and Rijkaard in that report and it is that document which has landed them in trouble.

So incensed are Uefa by the contents of Chelsea's report that they have revealed that, from the Nou Camp's away dressing-room, it would have been impossible for either men to have seen anyone enter the officials' room. They are also deeply concerned about subsequent allegations by Mourinho in his Portuguese newspaper column that he saw Rijkaard enter Frisk's room.

Despite its reputation as a conservative organisation, feelings are running extremely high at Uefa over Frisk's impromptu retirement on the basis of alleged threats from Chelsea supporters who believe Mourinho's accusations that he favoured Barcelona.

The tone of Uefa's language and, the nature of the criticism levelled at Mourinho, is unprecedented for the governing body and reflects its new determination to protect referees from any kind of intimidation.

Chelsea have already been charged with the lesser offences of returning late after the half-time interval and then failing to attend a post-match press conference, which they will answer on Thursday, but it is next week that they will have to answer the far more serious charge of bringing the game into disrepute.

The Control and Disciplinary body at Uefa is made up of representatives from all over Europe, although the disciplinary body's Spanish chairman, Josep Guasch, will not be eligible to sit on the commission hearing Chelsea's case.

Chelsea will have the option of making a written representation to the body or attending the hearing in person, but they will then have to bear in mind that their attitude towards the hearing will have a bearing on the punishment that will be decided.

The club have already been fined £20,000 this month by the Football Association for two separate breaches of discipline by Mourinho and his players.

The director of communications at Uefa, William Gaillard, said: "This is bringing the game into disrepute.

"It is using 'the end justifies the means' [approach]. To get where you are going - in this case in the Champions' League - you are ready to use disloyal methods and, frankly, this is totally and completely unacceptable.

"The Uefa referees' committee and everyone involved was extremely dismayed by Anders Frisk's resignation, but we are not charging Chelsea with his resignation. He has asked us not to ask him to reconsider. It was a difficult decision for him to make. More than half of his life has been spent refereeing.

"But he wants to spend more time with his children. The kind of threat he received made him think twice about whether he should keep going."

- Independent