Jose Mourinho in the dock as UEFA hit Real Madrid with five misconduct charges over 'deliberate' red cards

By Sportsmail Reporter
Updated: 11:33 EDT, 25 November 2010

UEFA have charged Jose Mourinho and four of his Real Madrid players with unsporting conduct after Xabi Alonso and Sergio Ramos appeared to get themselves deliberately sent off in the Champions League.

The Spain internationals were both dismissed after second bookable offences for timewasting towards the end of Madrid's 4-0 win at Ajax on Tuesday night.

The result ensured the Spanish giants qualified in first place from Group G and the dismissals meant Alonso and Ramos would miss the final round robin match against Auxerre rather than carry the threat of suspensions into the knockout stage.

Enlarge  

Suspicious: Mourinho appears to feed instructions to Ramos via Jerzy Dudek (top right) and Iker Casillas (No 1)

TV cameras caught Jerzy Dudek talking to Mourinho on the sidelines before the substitute goalkeeper went to talk to No 1 Iker Casillas, who in turn had a word in Ramos's ear.

All those involved denied they were transmitting instructions for the players to coax red cards from Scottish referee Craig Thomson.

But UEFA have charged Mourinho, Alonso, Ramos, Casillas and Dudek with unsporting conduct, and they could be hit with fines or extended bans if found guilty at a heading on Tuesday week.

After the match, Mourinho insisted: 'I spoke with many players throughout the game, not only with Ramos and Alonso.

'Stories sell, but the important thing is the 4-0 win and the fantastic game we had. Let's talk about that and not other things.'

Off day: Ramos is given his marching orders as Real Madrid canter to victory

Ramos, who was dismissed for having taken an age to take a goalkick, insisted: 'We didn't go looking for the cards. Seeing what the score was, the referee could have saved them. But he sent me off and that's that.'

Mourinho has previously clashed with UEFA during his time as manager of Chelsea. UEFA banned Mourinho from the touchline for two matches in 2005 after he accused Barcelona coach Frank Rijkaard of visiting Swedish referee Anders Frisk at half-time in the first leg of a last 16 clash.

Shabby affair: Alonso (far left) is sent off by referee Thomson

Mourinho is in his first season with Madrid and aims to become the first coach to lead three different clubs to the European title. He guided Porto to the 2004 crown, and Inter Milan last season.

There are a number of previous cases of players deliberately seeking cautions to manipulate the timing of suspensions.

Beckham was England captain when he intentionally committed a yellow-card foul against Wales in a World Cup qualifier played in 2004.

He later explained he'd sustained a rib injury which he knew would sideline him for the next match, so wanted his second caution of the qualifying campaign to serve a one-match ban.

FIFA president Sepp Blatter described Beckham's action as ;disappointing because it is not the behavior that befits an ambassador of football and fair play.'

Australia skipper Neill admitted getting a yellow card against Qatar in a World Cup qualifier last year so he could serve a ban immediately and not risk carrying it into the finals in South Africa.

In 2008, Lyon players Cris and Juninho were both fined by UEFA for deliberately incurring a second Champions League yellow card against Fiorentina so he would miss the meaningless group tie with Bayern and be all clear of suspension ahead of the knockout stage.

Meanwhile, UEFA have also charged Cluj boss Sorin Cartu with improper conduct after he smashed the dugout during a 1-0 defeat at Swiss club Basel.

However, Cartu has already been sacked over the incident by the Romanian champions, who apologised to UEFA, Basle and all football fans for the aberration.