If you believe some of what you read, Jose Mourinho and Juan Mata hate each other with a burning passion. They probably don’t, but it’s something people like to believe.
Admittedly, you can see where such an idea has come from. After all, Mata was sold to Manchester United months after Jose Mourinho returned to Chelsea.
When Jose got the gig at Old Trafford in summer, many expected Mata to be sent packing before the end of the transfer window. So far, Mata remains, but what happened in the Community Shield at Wembley on Sunday prompted some (a very, very small minority) to think all was not well between the pair.
Mata started on the bench against Leicester, and having been brought on in the second half, was substituted again in stoppage time by the United manager.
Apparently, Mata wasn’t best pleased with this. Manchester Evening News journalist, Samuel Luckhurst suggested he had to be ‘restrained’ moments after leaving the field of play.
In case you missed the incident, here it is…
https://twitter.com/YourBoyWaz/status/762345758444122112
A grinning Mata didn’t exactly look like he was on the brink of chinning his manager, did he?
Many fans took exception with the use of the word ‘restrained’, pointing out that the diminutive Spaniard was a picture of calm in the moments that followed the full-time whistle.
Blimey, even in the midst of the celebrations Mata had to be restrained by Zlatan. He is absolutely furious. pic.twitter.com/HYdIK0lHMh
— Gav Roberts (@_GavRoberts) August 7, 2016
https://twitter.com/DeadIyRonaldo/status/762344294401380352
In fairness, Luckhurst did extend on his tweet a few minutes later on.
‘When I say ‘restrained’, I don’t mean he was going to deck him, he explained. ‘Staff tried to get him to sit down.’
As for Mourinho, he also explained why he’d taken the unusual step of substituting a substitute when speaking to BT Sport after the game.
“I needed to take the smallest player off. Because I knew they were going to play big,” said Mourinho.
“So I can’t remove the tall ones.”
Storm in a teacup. Move on.
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