Did the Real Madrid player deserve to be sent off? This is what Mourinho and the Sevilla coach commented

- The Portuguese coach of Real Madrid, Jose Mourinho, challenged his critics by providing clear footage showing the Turkish player, Arda Guler, directing a blow with his elbow to one of the Seville players, stressing that he would accept the decision to show the red card if the evidence proved that the Real Madrid midfielder had deliberately hit Pique Fernandez during the match that ended with his team’s 4-1 win on Sunday at the Santiago Bernabeu. Real Madrid reduced the gap with Barcelona in the Spanish League to six points, thanks to two goals scored by Kylian Mbappe, in addition to two other goals scored by Guler and Jan Diomande.

The match, with the result still indicating a goalless draw, witnessed a moment that sparked widespread controversy. The Seville players demanded that Guler be expelled after his collision with the Seville player. Referee Mateo Busquets Ferrer did not take any disciplinary action, while VAR referee Guillermo Cuadra Fernandez did not intervene.

Real Madrid, which occupies third place behind its neighbor, Atletico Madrid, which is in second place, continued to impose its control. Guler opened the scoring, before Mbappe added two goals, giving the team a convincing victory. This result allows the Madrid team to reduce the gap with Barcelona, ​​the leader of the Spanish League, to three points if it achieves a victory in the first “El Clásico” match of the season, which will be held next weekend. However, the controversial incident turned into a major topic of discussion after the final whistle.

Mourinho defended Guler during the post-match press conference, noting that the midfielder denied intentionally elbowing his opponent, and challenged anyone who disagreed with him to provide evidence of that. “Arda told me he did not elbow him,” Mourinho said.

The Portuguese coach added: “The next Spanish League press conference will be held on Saturday, so if by then someone presents me with actual footage showing Arda doing this behavior, then I will say that it deserves a red card.” Mourinho continued: “Until now, I have not seen that anywhere.

“I asked to see it, but I have not yet had any clear pictures of what they are talking about.” The Real Madrid coach added that he would have no qualms in admitting that a decision - even if it was in the interest of his team - was a wrong decision, if he believed that.

Mourinho said: “If one day something happens that I think is in our interest, I will have no qualms in announcing it. But I think the opposite is what will happen to us most of the time; this is the natural tendency of things.”

Mourinho was also asked about the point of view of Sevilla coach Luis Garcia Plaza, who indicated that the decision not to expel Guler may have been influenced by the fact that Real Madrid will play the “El Clásico” match nine points behind Barcelona. But Mourinho refused to delve into the matter, saying only: “I will not comment.”

Despite the controversy, Real Madrid presented a remarkable offensive performance to achieve its third successive victory in various competitions since the international break, in the absence of the suspended Vinicius Junior. After that decisive moment, Guler broke the deadlock with a powerful shot into the top corner, taking advantage of a pass from Diomandi.

Before the end of the first half, Mbappe doubled the score in an amazing way; He turned the ball around and penetrated Sevilla's defense in one movement, before calmly putting the ball past goalkeeper Odysseus Vlachodimos. Real Madrid then gave itself a breathing space after Andres Castrin fouled Mbappe inside the penalty area, allowing the French striker to score from the penalty spot and settle the result once and for all in favor of his team, out of Sevilla's reach.

Substitute Manu Bueno took advantage of a mistake by the Madrid team to reduce the gap, but Diomande restored the three-goal lead shortly after, with another powerful and precise shot from outside the penalty area. The match also saw the welcome return of Eder Militao, who came on as a substitute in the 85th minute, marking his first appearance since undergoing hamstring surgery in April.

Mourinho expressed his satisfaction with the progress made by his team after the international break, and praised their collective performance. He said: “Three wins in three matches after the international break, I think we performed well.

The Roma match was very difficult, but we managed to overcome it. Despite the approaching El Clásico match, the Real Madrid coach insisted that Wednesday's Champions League match against Leipzig is still his immediate priority.

Mourinho said: "I will not spend a single minute thinking about Barcelona before Wednesday evening. Our focus is currently on the Champions League, and I will not think about 'El Clásico' until after we face Leipzig."

He continued: We want to avoid going into the Champions League qualifying round this year. We aspire to be among the top eight, and we must focus on Leipzig.”

Seville coach: We were deprived of playing another match. Garcia Plaza gave a completely different assessment of the incident in which Guler was a party, considering that Sevilla was deprived of the opportunity to compete against 10 players. When asked about the title on the Seville club website, “An elbow strike...

“No more.” The coach explained that he believed that this decision had a significant impact on the course of the match. He said: “There was one match, played in an 11-on-11 system, and they were the better side in it, but we were prevented from playing another match; "We did not have the opportunity to play a 10-on-11 confrontation."

The Sevilla coach also revealed what “Pique” said to him at halftime, and expressed his objection to another decision taken during the preparation for Madrid’s second goal. The coach said: “At half-time, ‘Becky’ was saying: ‘I got hit...’.”

There was a violation on the play leading up to the second goal. When the score was 0-0, we still had 65 minutes to play.

Garcia Plaza strongly criticized the referees' failure to intervene, stressing that the incident required review by the video assistant referee. “Instead of talking to the referee, we should be talking to the VAR officials,” Garcia Plaza said.

"There are many more camera angles, and if they see the incident, it will result in a red card."