José Mourinho issued an apology to Kevin Friend after criticising the referee who he felt was part of "a campaign" against his side.
"I want to apologise for my comments about him earlier on television", said Mourinho, referring to his post-match interview after his team's 3-0 victory over Watford in the FA Cup 3rd round.
The Portuguese coach was swift to denounce Friend after the referee's decision not to award 'The Blues' a penalty for a blatant handball by Watford's Craig Cathcart, which he cited as a further example of "a campaign" against his team.
Mourinho did later backtrack, however, turning his criticism into praise saying that it was "great refereeing. He saw that it was a penalty and was going to give it but he saw that the ball was going to Remy, and he waited a couple of seconds".
"He said if Remy did not control the ball or fired the ball over the bar, he would have definitely given the penalty", revealed the former Real Madrid coach.
Mourinho changed his tune considerably after previously stating that Friend's decision not to award a penalty was "another example of the injustice" that his team was suffering from after what he considered two stone-wall spot kicks were not awarded in recent away visits to Tottenham and Southampton.
His side's trip to the south coast on 28th December, which ended 1-1, was when Mourinho first uttered words about "a campaign against Chelsea".
"The media, commentators, other managers are all doing it [putting pressure on referees]. There is a campaign against Chelsea. I don't know why there is this campaign and I do not care", he explained.
Source - Marca
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