Jose Mourinho admitted he spoke to a ball-boy during Chelsea's shock 1-0 defeat at Crystal Palace because he feared a confrontation between the youngster and one of his players.
Chelsea defender Cesar Azpilicueta was involved in a minor altercation with the ball-boy after growing frustrated at the time taken to return the ball in the second half at Selhurst Park on Saturday.
At the time, Chelsea were trailing to John Terry’s 52nd-minute own goal and the incident reflected the growing frustration as Mourinho’s side struggled to work their way back into the game.
“I went there to stop Azpilicueta because he’s an emotional guy, one of the guys who was not losing his spirit,” Mourinho said.
“I was afraid Azpi might push the kid or do something, so I went there.”
The incident revived memories of Eden Hazard’s clash with a ball-boy at Swansea last season that earned the Chelsea winger a three-game ban, although this incident is unlikely to attract any punishment.
Mourinho, though, believes the ball-boys had been told to delay returning the ball in a bid to slow the game down.
“The kids are educated to do this, but if a player hits a ball-boy, the person who educates them disappears,” Mourinho said.
“The player stays in trouble for pushing or punching or kicking the kid. The way Azpi was going, because the kids were doing that all the time...so I went to stop him and I had the chance to speak with the kid, who was cute.
“He came to me and I told him if he does this, one day somebody will punch him. I told him. Last year, what happened with Eden, you know...
“But the kids, it’s not their fault. The kid said ‘yes’.”
Mourinho’s angst at the ball-boy’s delaying tactics was prompted by the realisation that his team had blown a chance to consolidate their position on top of the table.
He claimed the defeat means his side will not now win the Premier League and questioned the mentality of some of his players at Selhurst Park.
“We lacked mentality. And a little bit of quality. Mentality because the opponents beat us clearly on that,” said Mourinho, whose side will surrender top spot if Liverpool beat Tottenham Hotspur on Sunday.
“They were strong, aggressive, committed. Every one of them played, I think, at the top of their potential and that, in football, is important.
“And, after that, I think also we missed some qualities. I know we could have scored before them in the first half, and we had chances to equalise, but even so I think it’s fair to say they deserved it.
“Clearly we have some players because of their profile who find it difficult to perform in some profile of matches.
“You have Ivanovic, Terry, Cahill and Azpilicueta perform in the sun, in the rain, small pitches, big pitches, aggressive teams, non-aggressive teams, possession teams, and they perform every game from day one to the last day.
“And you have other players who are fantastic in some matches and disappear in other matches. You can find easily in these matches something in common. You can find it clearly.”
Mourinho’s side must recover quickly ahead of the trip to face Paris Saint-Germain in the first leg of their Champions League quarter-final on Wednesday, although he denied the looming trip had been a distraction.
“I don’t think it affected them because, if they do have their mind in Paris, they risk not playing in Paris. After that it makes no sense,” he added.
Palace manager Tony Pulis said: “It’s a very important result for us. Our results had dropped off, but the performances had been OK, but to beat Chelsea will give everyone a boost to push on for the last seven games.”
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Porsche Taycan Turbo specs
Engine: Two permanent-magnet synchronous AC motors
Transmission: two-speed
Power: 671hp
Torque: 1050Nm
Range: 450km
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Key facilities
- Olympic-size swimming pool with a split bulkhead for multi-use configurations, including water polo and 50m/25m training lanes
- Premier League-standard football pitch
- 400m Olympic running track
- NBA-spec basketball court with auditorium
- 600-seat auditorium
- Spaces for historical and cultural exploration
- An elevated football field that doubles as a helipad
- Specialist robotics and science laboratories
- AR and VR-enabled learning centres
- Disruption Lab and Research Centre for developing entrepreneurial skills
Conflict, drought, famine
Estimates of the number of deaths caused by the famine range from 400,000 to 1 million, according to a document prepared for the UK House of Lords in 2024.
It has been claimed that the policies of the Ethiopian government, which took control after deposing Emperor Haile Selassie in a military-led revolution in 1974, contributed to the scale of the famine.
Dr Miriam Bradley, senior lecturer in humanitarian studies at the University of Manchester, has argued that, by the early 1980s, “several government policies combined to cause, rather than prevent, a famine which lasted from 1983 to 1985. Mengistu’s government imposed Stalinist-model agricultural policies involving forced collectivisation and villagisation [relocation of communities into planned villages].
The West became aware of the catastrophe through a series of BBC News reports by journalist Michael Buerk in October 1984 describing a “biblical famine” and containing graphic images of thousands of people, including children, facing starvation.
Band Aid
Bob Geldof, singer with the Irish rock group The Boomtown Rats, formed Band Aid in response to the horrific images shown in the news broadcasts.
With Midge Ure of the band Ultravox, he wrote the hit charity single Do They Know it’s Christmas in December 1984, featuring a string of high-profile musicians.
Following the single’s success, the idea to stage a rock concert evolved.
Live Aid was a series of simultaneous concerts that took place at Wembley Stadium in London, John F Kennedy Stadium in Philadelphia, the US, and at various other venues across the world.
The combined event was broadcast to an estimated worldwide audience of 1.5 billion.
UAE currency: the story behind the money in your pockets
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The biog
Born: Kuwait in 1986
Family: She is the youngest of seven siblings
Time in the UAE: 10 years
Hobbies: audiobooks and fitness: she works out every day, enjoying kickboxing and basketball
More on animal trafficking
Quick pearls of wisdom
Focus on gratitude: And do so deeply, he says. “Think of one to three things a day that you’re grateful for. It needs to be specific, too, don’t just say ‘air.’ Really think about it. If you’re grateful for, say, what your parents have done for you, that will motivate you to do more for the world.”
Know how to fight: Shetty married his wife, Radhi, three years ago (he met her in a meditation class before he went off and became a monk). He says they’ve had to learn to respect each other’s “fighting styles” – he’s a talk it-out-immediately person, while she needs space to think. “When you’re having an argument, remember, it’s not you against each other. It’s both of you against the problem. When you win, they lose. If you’re on a team you have to win together.”
MISSION: IMPOSSIBLE – FINAL RECKONING
Director: Christopher McQuarrie
Starring: Tom Cruise, Hayley Atwell, Simon Pegg
Rating: 4/5
THE CLOWN OF GAZA
Director: Abdulrahman Sabbah
Starring: Alaa Meqdad
Rating: 4/5
The Old Slave and the Mastiff
Patrick Chamoiseau
Translated from the French and Creole by Linda Coverdale
OPINIONS ON PALESTINE & ISRAEL
The 24-man squad:
Goalkeepers: Thibaut Courtois (Chelsea), Simon Mignolet (Liverpool), Koen Casteels (VfL Wolfsburg).
Defenders: Toby Alderweireld (Tottenham), Thomas Meunier (Paris Saint-Germain), Thomas Vermaelen (Barcelona), Jan Vertonghen (Tottenham), Dedryck Boyata (Celtic), Vincent Kompany (Manchester City).
Midfielders: Marouane Fellaini (Manchester United), Axel Witsel (Tianjin Quanjian), Kevin De Bruyne (Manchester City), Eden Hazard (Chelsea), Nacer Chadli (West Bromwich Albion), Leander Dendoncker (Anderlecht), Thorgan Hazard (Borussia Moenchengladbach), Youri Tielemans (Monaco), Mousa Dembele (Tottenham Hotspur).
Forwards: Michy Batshuayi (Chelsea/Dortmund), Yannick Carrasco (Dalian Yifang), Adnan Januzaj (Real Sociedad), Romelu Lukaku (Manchester United), Dries Mertens (Napoli).
Standby player: Laurent Ciman (Los Angeles FC).
Specs
Engine: Duel electric motors
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The specs
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The specs
Engine: 2.0-litre 4-cylinder turbo
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Transmission: Eight-speed auto
Fuel consumption: 6.1L/100km
Price: from Dh362,500
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The specs: Macan Turbo
Engine: Dual synchronous electric motors
Power: 639hp
Torque: 1,130Nm
Transmission: Single-speed automatic
Touring range: 591km
Price: From Dh412,500
On sale: Deliveries start in October
Company profile
Date started: Founded in May 2017 and operational since April 2018
Founders: co-founder and chief executive, Doaa Aref; Dr Rasha Rady, co-founder and chief operating officer.
Based: Cairo, Egypt
Sector: Health-tech
Size: 22 employees
Funding: Seed funding
Investors: Flat6labs, 500 Falcons, three angel investors
Cricket World Cup League Two
Oman, UAE, Namibia
Al Amerat, Muscat
Results
Oman beat UAE by five wickets
UAE beat Namibia by eight runs
Fixtures
Wednesday January 8 –Oman v Namibia
Thursday January 9 – Oman v UAE
Saturday January 11 – UAE v Namibia
Sunday January 12 – Oman v Namibia
UAE currency: the story behind the money in your pockets
Sole survivors
- Cecelia Crocker was on board Northwest Airlines Flight 255 in 1987 when it crashed in Detroit, killing 154 people, including her parents and brother. The plane had hit a light pole on take off
- George Lamson Jr, from Minnesota, was on a Galaxy Airlines flight that crashed in Reno in 1985, killing 68 people. His entire seat was launched out of the plane
- Bahia Bakari, then 12, survived when a Yemenia Airways flight crashed near the Comoros in 2009, killing 152. She was found clinging to wreckage after floating in the ocean for 13 hours.
- Jim Polehinke was the co-pilot and sole survivor of a 2006 Comair flight that crashed in Lexington, Kentucky, killing 49.
