Last night, in Turin, Manchester United achieved, what I believe, to be their best win of the season, so far, when they beat Juventus 2-1 in a Champions League group fixture.
Losing 1-0, with only a matter of minutes to go, United evoked memories of that marvellous Champions League Final, against Bayern Munich, to come from behind and win.
What made the result even more outstanding was that United were, for large parts of the game, out-played.
Naturally, the win provoked joyous scenes amongst both the players and the travelling support.
But, having come from behind to win in such spectacular circumstances, did Jose Mourinho go too far in running on to the pitch and cupping his ear to the Juventus fans, provoking a furious response from all and sundry?
In response to the gesture two of the Juventus players, Leonardo Bonucci and Paulo Dybala complained whilst Mourinho was ushered down the tunnel by the match officials and the United coaching staff.
However, perhaps Bonucci was still smarting from having scored the late own-goal that saw United pull off the remarkable win.
But, there are two viewpoints you can take from Mourinho’s actions.
The first supports it. United had come back from the dead and had stunned the home support by grabbing the win, Mourinho was obviously delighted and his emotions having gotten the better of him reacted accordingly. After all, he’d endured the abuse hurled in his direction, from the home support, for the duration of the game.
The second viewpoint has a hint of ‘the pot calling the kettle black’ with Mourinho, previously, in his tenure as the manager of our club, being highly critical of such over-the-top acts when results haven’t gone our way.
Two incidents that immediately spring to mind involve his former club, Chelsea.
Mourinho acted angrily when Antonio Conte celebrated his side beating us at Stamford Bridge and only last month objected in an angry manner when a member of the Chelsea backroom staff celebrated the home sides’ late equaliser in the 2-2 draw at Stamford Bridge.
So, what’s the verdict on last nights’ incident?
Is Mourinho likely to face disciplinary action from UEFA or was it all much ado about nothing?
Please feel free to leave your views. On the subject matter, in the comment facility beneath this article.
