UEFA wrath for Jose

JOSE MOURINHO bore the brunt of UEFA's wrath yesterday and landed a two-match ban for his claims about referee Anders Frisk, but Chelsea have escaped more severe sanctions and are "unlikely" to appeal against their punishment.

Chelsea managed to convince a UEFA disciplinary panel that Mourinho's assistant Steve Clarke and security official Les Miles did not deliberately lie about seeing Barcelona coach Frank Rijkaard entering the match official's dressing room at half-time in the Nou Camp last month, but were involved in a misunderstanding.

Mourinho was given the ban, which will affect both legs of Chelsea's Champions League quarter-final against Bayern Munich, and fined 20,000 Swiss francs (€12,900) - less than a day's pay - for bringing the game into disrepute, understood to be by his remarks about Frisk.

He can watch the games from the stand.

Chelsea's official report to UEFA about the incident at the Nou Camp last month contained the claims by Clarke and Miles, and it now appears they merely saw Rijkaard using an alternative route to his dressing room which leaves from the same reception area as the corridor to the referee's room and jumped to conclusions.

The pair have merely been reprimanded and the club fined 75,000 Swiss francs (€48,300).

The words that landed Mourinho in trouble are thought to be those that appeared in his column in Portuguese magazine Dez Record, when he said: "It was an adulterated result. When I saw Rijkaard enter the referee's room at half-time I couldn't believe it ... when Drogba was sent off I wasn't surprised."

He back-tracked earlier this week and admitted he had not personally witnessed any event with Rijkaard, but UEFA believed the damage was done - especially with Frisk retiring after receiving death threats.

UEFA said in their charges that such remarks had created a "poisoned and negative ambience" ahead of the second leg, won by Chelsea 4-2.

Chelsea chairman Bruce Buck made a surprise appearance at the hearing at UEFA's headquarters in Nyon, Switzerland, along with club secretary Dave Barnard and top barrister Jim Sturman QC, who specialises in football charge cases.

Buck appeared conciliatory afterwards and accepted they had had a fair hearing - something chief executive Peter Kenyon has seriously questioned following the accusatory language used by UEFA and their communications director William Gaillard last week.

The Chelsea chairman, who is thought to have ordered club officials to put an end to the whole conflict with UEFA, said: "We would like to put this incident behind us.

"We are not likely to appeal but we would like to reserve that decision until we see the reasoning of the panel which we expect [today].

"We are not overly happy with the decision but we certainly respect it.

"We think the hearing was a full and fair hearing, we were able to make our points and make our statement and we were pleased with the proceedings."

Buck, an American, made a statement to the hearing before answering questions, and he believes the disciplinary panel accepted there had been "a misunderstanding".

He said: "I don't want to comment specifically on each charge but I think the panel took the view that there was a misunderstanding in those statements, that those statements were made in good faith and the club and the persons that made those statements continue to believe that.

"I think in large part it has been blown out of proportion but it was a serious matter and we are hoping to put it behind us."

Buck denied the fine was paltry compared to the funds available to club owner Roman Abramovich.

He added: "We are running a business and every thousand pounds or thousand Swiss francs we spend, we spend carefully, so we don't look at it that way."

It was also the first time Chelsea had offered any sort of apology for what happened to Frisk.

Buck said: "The whole club respects his integrity and we are very sorry about the situation that developed - to the extent that if our security people are able to develop any information as to those people that have been harassing him we will turn that over to the proper authorities."

He would not say whether he had apologised to the panel for the allegations about Rijkaard.

He said: "I don't want to comment on the specific nature of anything that went on in the room because I think it was a confidential proceeding."