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Football

20th Oct 2018

Jose Mourinho accused of having no class by none other than Richard Keys

Pot, meet kettle

Darragh Murphy

For lectures on class, Richard Keys probably shouldn’t be your first port of call.

You will likely remember the fact that Keys left Sky Sports in disgrace seven years ago after making sexist comments about Premier League official Sian Massey and West Ham executive Karren Brady.

After claiming that female officials don’t know the offside rule and asking Brady to “do me a favour, love,” in response to a newspaper column in which she discussed sexism, Keys was forced out of his job along with fellow presenter Andy Gray.

Leicester and England legend Gary Lineker has perhaps best summed up the sight of Keys bemoaning the lack of class on display from Manchester United manager Jose Mourinho on Saturday afternoon.

Mourinho became embroiled in a touchline fracas after a member of Chelsea’s backroom team taunted the United boss following Ross Barkley’s injury-time equaliser.

Mourinho attempted to confront the Chelsea employee, understood to be the club’s second assistant coach Marco Ianni, before tempers calmed and the final seconds were allowed to play out.

It was after the final whistle that Mourinho was goaded by the Stamford Bridge faithful and he reacted by holding up three fingers, denoting the three Premier League titles he won as Blues boss.

“A passive and anaemic Manchester United first half, second half it very nearly became masterclass but it ended with Mourinho showing absolutely no class, none whatsover,” Keys said on beINSports’ coverage of the game.

“Bad enough that he leapt up looking for a fight but then to go provoking Chelsea fans in that manner. We know, Jose! Why does he have to do that?”

He added: “You can’t do that, no matter what the provocation. If a player does that, you’d go off.”

Mourinho accepted Ianni’s apology after the game while current Chelsea manager Maurizio Sarri vowed to deal with the matter in house.

“Not celebrations,” Mourinho said. “Bad education, but I also made mistakes in football matches and I will make more, so when he came to me after the game to apologise I accepted his apologies and nothing more to say.”

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