Jose Mourinho has admitted that the penalty awarded to Kylian Mbappe during Real Madrid’s 3-0 win over Racing de Santander was a marginal decision, saying he would have been unhappy had the same call gone against his team.
Mbappe won the spot-kick in Sunday’s La Liga match and converted it, helping Real Madrid secure victory. The decision quickly became the subject of considerable debate, with refereeing experts later concluding that the forward should not have been awarded a penalty.
The Spanish refereeing committee acknowledged earlier on Wednesday that the match official had made an error in awarding the kick.
Mourinho was asked about the incident after Real Madrid’s Champions League match against AEK Athens on Wednesday. He said: “For me, it was a small penalty, I admit that. If it had been given against me, I would not have been happy.”
The Real Madrid manager nevertheless played down the significance of the decision, arguing that it had not determined the outcome of the match.
“This was a situation that had no influence on the points,” Mourinho said, in comments reported by AS. “Even if we had not been awarded the penalty, we would have won by three, four or five goals. If we had needed to score more, we would have done so, but the team did not want to keep scoring.”
Mourinho’s comments came after the refereeing authorities’ public admission that the penalty should not have been awarded. Despite accepting that the call was questionable, he maintained that Real Madrid’s overall performance meant it had not altered the result against Racing de Santander.
Mourinho praises Nadal’s Real Madrid role
Mourinho also welcomed the appointment of Spanish tennis star Rafael Nadal to the Real Madrid board.
The manager praised both the club and Nadal, describing the 22-time Grand Slam champion as a prominent Real Madrid supporter and saying he was proud to have him involved with the club.
“I take my hat off to Real Madrid and to the great Rafa Nadal,” Mourinho said. “I believe he is a big Real Madrid fan, and he certainly has to be to join the board. But Rafa Nadal is Rafa Nadal, and as a coach I feel very proud to have him with us.”
Mourinho then joked that Nadal’s support for Real Madrid could affect his popularity among fans of other clubs who admire the former world number one.
“I only hope that supporters of other clubs who love Nadal do not stop loving him because he is a Real Madrid fan,” he added.