Valencia's Mathieu condemns Mourinho's 'lack of respect'

Madrid: Valencia defender Jeremy Mathieu has hit out at Real Madrid coach Jose Mourinho over his behaviour during Real’s 3-2 win in La Liga on Saturday, saying the Portuguese showed a lack of respect. Mourinho raised hackles at the Mestalla with his extravagant celebration of Real’s third goal, when he leapt on to the back of forward Jose Callejon, and he also clashed with Valencia players David Albelda and Jordi Alba. [caption id=“attachment_136483” align=“alignleft” width=“380” caption=““Valencia should be flattered; We celebrated effusively against Valencia because they are a difficult opponent.” Reuters”]  [/caption] “That’s Mourinho,” France international Mathieu told a news conference on Monday. “He did not respect Valencia, these are things that should be avoided on the pitch.” Valencia were furious with the referee at the end of the entertaining but ill-tempered match, which maintained Real’s three-point lead over champions Barcelona at the top of the standings. The ball appeared to strike Gonzalo Higuain’s arm near the Real goal line deep into second-half added time but the Valencia players’ appeals for a penalty were waved away before Mourinho had objects thrown at him from the crowd as he left the pitch. At an earlier news conference, the former Chelsea and Inter Milan manager defended himself, saying Valencia should be “flattered” by the passion of Real’s celebrations. “We celebrated effusively against Valencia because they are a difficult opponent,” Mourinho said. “People seem to think we’re arrogant when we don’t celebrate and we’re arrogant when we do,” he added. “They should be flattered by our way of celebrating. You don’t celebrate like that in a normal game against a normal adversary. We celebrated our goals with emotion and respect.” Reuters