Jose Mourinho: Strict action must be taken against divers

Mourinho pictured during the Champions League game against Steaua Bucharest

Chelsea boss Jose Mourinho has demanded strict penalties against players who dive and has promised to penalize any player in his team that is found guilty of diving. The Telegraph reports.

This weeks Champions League games have been plagued with diving issues with Barcelona striker Neymar coming under fire for going down too easily in order to provoke the referee to show Celtic skipper Scott Brown a red card.

AC Milan forward Mario Balotelli has also come under scrutiny for diving in order to win a penalty which was converted into a goal against Dutch club Ajax Amsterdam.

Chelsea have had their own share of divers with former player Didier Drogba and Arjen Robben being accused of diving. But Mourinho has stated that any player in his team found purposely diving will be taken to task.

“I have told the players many times, I hate it. It is very bad,” Mourinho said. “And the search of a red card for another player is a disgrace.

“I haven’t dropped a player because of it, but being strong and critical, I did it, yes. I spoke about it with Drogba and Robben.

“I am not saying I will drop someone. Maybe the player is very important for me and makes a mistake and maybe I don’t drop him. But I will strongly criticise him, yes. And if one day I win the game where I feel one of my players didn’t behave correctly, I will say it.

“In some countries if you don’t do it you become like the naive one because others do. But you could see for example in the Champions League this week, what happened in Glasgow and Amsterdam. And for me that is fairly sad.”

The 50-year-old thinks that if the menace is not cured it will spread “It’s up to the football authorities. Again, I am nobody, I just give my little opinion. Next week they will go again [if no action is taken]. It’s about priorities.”

The Portuguese tactician saw his team emerge victorious in the Champions League game against Steaua Bucharest this week and will hope his side perform with the same gusto against Norwich City on Sunday.

Mourinho has stated that Chelsea players John Terry, Frank Lampard, Ashley Cole and Petr Cech have made him feel at home during his second stint at the London club and that winning the title again with the Blues promises to be a herculean task.

“They are good guys and good professionals and I think they are getting it right in their heads, the fact that they are not 25, they are 32, 34.

“They are getting that completely right. And I think the relation they have with me is the perfect relationship for them at this stage of their career.

“Because they trust me: they know that instead of somebody having one day off, they have two days off. This trust for them is very important at this stage of their career.”