An ashamed Jose Mourinho has labelled Chelsea’s remarkable FA Cup collapse against Bradford City as unacceptable.
Speaking the day before his side welcomed the League One club to Stamford Bridge, Mourinho claimed it would be a disgrace for the Premier League leaders to lose against team currently seventh in League One. And when goals from Gary Cahill and Ramires gave the home side a 2-0 lead after 38 minutes, it looked like being a routine win for the seven-time FA Cup winners.
However, the Bantams pulled one back through John Stead before the break, and then former Chelsea youngster Filipe Morais levelled the tie with 15 minutes remaining. If that shocked the capital club and their supporters, it was nothing to what happened next as Andy Halliday fired the visitors ahead on 82 minutes, before Mark Yeates added a fourth in the closing stages.
Without doubt, this will go down as one of the biggest upsets in the history of the FA Cup and one of the most famous days in the history of Bradford. Credit to Mourinho, he went into the away dressing room to shake the hand of every City player and official, but after the match, the Portuguese coach couldn’t hide his shame about losing at home to a side from the third-tier.
“It’s a disgrace. A sporting disgrace, but it’s a disgrace,” he said. “It happens more in the FA Cup than any other country. By another side I feel ashamed and I think the players should feel exactly the same as I feel. I know in the history of this competition it happens to every team now and again. For me it’s the first time and I think it’s unacceptable to lose against a team from a lower league.”
This was the first time Chelsea had lost to lower-league opposition for 20 years, and they must now pick themselves up for two huge contests. Firstly they welcome Liverpool in the second-leg of the League Cup semi-final on Tuesday night, following their 1-1 first leg draw last week, and then they will look to move eight points clear in the title race when Manchester City visit on Saturday.
