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Jose Mourinho ‘ashamed’ of Chelsea loss in FA Cup

By Phil Watson

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Chelsea was eliminated from England’s FA Cup by a lower-division squad Saturday and manager Jose Mourinho called the loss a “disgrace.”

When Bradford knocked off Chelsea on Saturday in the fourth round of England’s FA Cup by a 4-2 count, it was a really big an upset — like, biblically big.

Consider that Chelsea is at the top of the table in the English Premier League, while Bradford is seventh in England’s League One—two tiers below the Premier League—and you have an upset of epic proportions.

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How it went down is almost as great as the result itself.

Chelsea took an early 2-0 lead and was up 2-1 at halftime before a second-half collapse.

Bradford got two goals late and took a 3-2 lead and refused to fall back into a defensive shell. Instead, they kept attacking and picked up an insurance marker in stoppage time.

It was just Chelsea’s fourth loss in 34 matches this season.

“It’s a disgrace for a big team to lose to a small team from a lower league,” Chelsea manager Jose Mourinho told BBC Sport. “Me and the players must feel ashamed.”

It was a round of upsets in the FA Cup, however. Besides Bradford’s shocker over Chelsea at Stamford Bridge, Manchester City lost at home to Championship club Middlesbrough, 2-0, on Friday, while Cambridge United played Manchester United to a scoreless draw and Blackburn Rovers stunned Swansea City.

Southampton also was eliminated in an upset at the hands of Crystal Palace and Tottenham—an eight-time FA Cup winner—lost at home to Leicester City.

But none was as much of a shocker as Bradford’s 4-2 win at Chelsea—the first time any team had scored four goals against a Mourinho managed team playing at home.

“I repeat a word I used before this match—it’s a disgrace for a big team to lose to a small team from a lower league,” Mourinho said. “Frustration is not the right word, embarrassed would be more appropriate.”

Mourinho had only himself to blame—just two of the players from Tuesday night’s 1-1 draw against Liverpool in their Capital One Cup semifinal at Anfield played against Bradford.

In other words, Mourinho completely looked past the League One opponent.

“What we’ve done is slowly sinking in,” said Bradford manager Phil Parkinson, via The Guardian. “When we were all on the pitch celebrating at the end, it did feel a bit surreal. But what a great performance from our lads.”

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