Mourinho's first instinct was to defend Gallas

Chelsea manager Jose Mourinho defended William Gallas before seeing television replays of the tackle that led to a red card for the French defender at Fulham.

Gallas was sent off for dangerous tackle on Heidar Helguson and angered Fulham fans by making a thumbs down gesture as he left the field.

Fulham fans invaded the pitch after the final whistle and scenes turned nasty with several on-field skirmishes before police and stewards restored order.

The 1-0 defeat at Craven Cottage on Sunday was a rare setback for Mourinho, who reacted to Gallas’ red card before examining TV replays.

He told The Daily Star: “I can understand it is quite frustrating for players to be fighting to change the result and the opponents are always delaying.

“The ball disappeared. The ball-boys disappeared. There was only one ball in the game.

“I can understand this is frustrating and players can have incorrect behaviour in consequence of that. But he has to control himself.”