Mourinho fined

LONDON. — Chelsea manager Jose Mourinho has been fined 8 000 pounds after admitting to an improper conduct charge for his behaviour in Saturday’s Premier League game against Cardiff City, the FA said.
Mourinho was sent to the Stamford Bridge stands by Anthony Taylor 20 minutes from the end of the 4-1 win for protesting to the referee after becoming increasingly frustrated at what he perceived to be Cardiff’s time-wasting tactics.

“If I was at that game and I was paying my ticket I would be worried with the fact that every time the ball was out or stopped and our opponent had to put the ball back in the game, it took a minimum of 21.5 seconds,” Mourinho said at the time.

“That is a waste of money. You pay your ticket and every time the game stops you have to wait about half a minute? When you multiply that by the number of times the game was stopped . . . you pay for 90 minutes but you see 55 or 60.”
The FA said in a statement yesterday that the fine was the standard penalty for the offence.

Meanwhile, the much-maligned Fernando Torres woke up on Wednesday to find himself the subject of glowing headlines after his two goals helped Chelsea to take the lead in Champions League Group E.

The praise was qualified though, with the British media not quite able to shake off the idea that the Spaniard has failed to justify his 50-million-pound (US$75-million) fee since joining from Liverpool nearly three years ago.

Torres, who started for the first time since damaging knee ligaments in Bucharest three weeks ago, said himself after Tuesday’s 3-0 win over Schalke 04 that he felt “very sharp, very well”.

Britain’s Daily Mirror coined the headline “Torrnado” while the Daily Mail said the Spain striker was in “irresistible form”.
“Torres put in a brilliant shift up front, leading the line,” the Mail continued. “His touch was good, his movement sharp and he combined smoothly with those around him.”

On his 100th start for the London side, Torres “looked the man for whom Roman Abramovic paid 50 million pounds . . . rather than the pale version of one of Europe’s most lethal strikers that he has so often been,” said the Daily Telegraph. Torres, who said in June that he found motivation in the words of returning coach Mourinho, could have had a hat-trick if his second-half header had not hit the bar. — Mailonline.