Mourinho criticises use of VAR after Son is sent off in defeat to Chelsea
Tottenham Hotspur manager Jose Mourinho gestures during the Premier League match against Chelsea. Picture: PA - Credit: PA Wire/PA Images
Jose Mourinho believes Heung-Min Son’s red card “killed the game” for his Tottenham Hotspur side as they fell to a 2-0 London derby defeat at home to Chelsea.
Willian put the Blues ahead after just 12 minutes when he curled an effort past Paulo Gazzaniga and doubled his side's advantage from the penalty spot before the break after VAR ruled that Gazzaniga had fouled Marcos Alonso.
And 17 minutes into the second half, Son was given a straight red when VAR intervened again after the South Korean had a slight kick out at Antonio Rudiger.
Mourinho questioned the use of VAR in the situation and believes Rudiger made the most of the incident.
"For me it's not a red card," he said.
"I think if we go through every person in this room some would say yes and some would say no.
"That's not the essence of VAR. The VAR is for the penalty in the first half, a clear and obvious mistake.
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"For me, that's the VAR. When you have that situation with Son and Rudiger, it's not a clear and obvious mistake by the referee.
"The game changed and we were looking for a goal and instead of a goal comes a red card.
"Then the game is easier for them to control. It basically kills the game.
"I think the mistake of the referee in that action is not to give a yellow card to Rudiger. In some countries, like mine for example, in other cultures, we used to say they are a clever player.
"But in this country and one of the reasons why I fell in love with this country in 2004 is we don't call them clever, we call them other things that I refuse to call."
The defeat leaves Spurs six points behind Chelsea in fourth heading into a busy Christmas period.
But despite believing the red card was wrong, Mourinho also admitted that the Blues had the advantage over his side.
He added: "They were better than us in the first half.
"They played in a system they are very comfortable with. A system where they play for two years with Antonio Conte.
"But the goals didn't come on that superiority. The goals come on mistakes."
