Monday, 19th September, 2011
Jose Mourinho watched his Real Madrid side succumb 1-0 to Levante at the weekend and instantly laid the blame for the club’s defeat at the door of Sami Khedira.
The German midfielder saw red in the 40th minute, reducing Real Madrid to ten men and leaving Mourinho explaining that the former Stuttgart man had fallen into the trap set for him by the hosts.
Levante scored the only goal of the game after 62 minutes through on loan striker Arouna Kone to claim a famous victory.
"The match evened out when we were down to ten men", said Mourinho.
"One of the teams kept defending, albeit less, and the other wanted to attack, but lacked the potential to do so. The game ended once they scored.
"We played well in the beginning. Our opponent didn’t even enter our half and [Iker] Casillas didn’t even touch the ball. We had great chances to score and we failed to capitalise on them because the pitch was in bad shape and Levante defended fiercely."
The Portuguese also felt his side completely dominated the game and bemoaned missing out on the awarding of a penalty.
"We dominated the game at times.
"There was a clear penalty that wasn’t awarded to us and it would have also meant that the player got a second booking. If we had scored and they had been left with ten men the game would have been different."
Mourinho also laid the blame at Khedira’s door, for the German seeing red and changing the course of the match.
"My player knows about these situations and fell for the trap", said the Real Madrid coach.
"That’s why I make him partly responsible for the defeat and I don’t have a problem doing so."
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