Jose Mourinho ‘congratulates’ referee after Sunderland loss

Jose Mourinho refused to take questions after his side’s 2-1 defeat by Sunderland, instead “congratulating” referee Mike Dean and referees’ boss Mike Riley.

A hotly-contested penalty decided a game that left Chelsea two points off leaders Liverpool, having played a game more.

“In four quick points I can say everything I want to say, I won’t waste time because every question you ask me I will answer in exactly the same way, so we’ll stick with four quick points,” said Mourinho.

“The first point is to congratulate my players, they did everything they could. They fought, they played from the first to the last second and they deserve that [praise]. Sometimes we praise them when we win but I think it’s fair to praise my players after a defeat.

“Secondly, congratulations to Sunderland. It doesn’t matter how or why, or in which way, they won, but they won. It was three fantastic points for them so I think it’s fair to congratulate them.

“The third point is I want to congratulate [referee] Mike Dean. I think his performance was unbelievable and when referees have unbelievable performances I think it’s fair, as managers, we give them this. It was a fantastic performance, he came here with one objective, the objective to make a fantastic performance, and he did that.

“The fourth point, I think it’s also fair to congratulate Mike Riley, because he’s the referees’ boss, and what they are doing during the whole season is fantastic, especially in the last couple of months, and especially in the games which have involved teams in the title race. It’s absolutely fantastic and I also congratulate him.”