Porto coach Jose Mourinho taunted Sir Alex Ferguson after the Manchester United boss snubbed his counterpart following United’s Champions League defeat in Portugal.
Ferguson refused to shake hands with Mourinho at the end of the game, so incensed was the United coach over Porto goalkeeper Vitor Baia’s part in Roy Keane’s red card. Keane was sent off for stamping on Baia during United’s 2-1 defeat although Ferguson was furious with the theatrics of the Porto keeper.
But, rather than be offended, Mourinho, who was delighted with his side’s performance, chose to mock Ferguson.
“I understand why he is a bit emotional,’ said the Porto coach.
“You would be sad if your team gets as clearly dominated by an opponent who has been built on 10% of the budget.”
“Ferguson told me in the tunnel that he thought Vitor had made the most of it,” added Mourinho.
“I said I wanted to see it on television before I would make a comment but if he was right, I would apologise.
“However, if he has no reason to make the claim he can apologise to me.
“Vitor told me he was diving for the ball, Keane left his foot in and he felt a bit of pain with the contact.
“I understand why he is a bit emotional. He has some top players in the world and they should be doing a lot better than that.”
Meanwhile, Ferguson defender his skipper, suggesting that the decision to award him a red card, was unduly harsh.
“There was no malice in the incident, it is not Roy’s style to do anything like that.
“The goalkeeper made more of it than he should have done. Certainly he stood on the lad but I don’t know whether he could have got out of the way.
“I can understand why the linesman flagged but the keeper made a meal of it.”
