Mourinho: Ban Wayne Rooney For Stamp

After being paired with Manchester United in the last 16 of the Champions League, Inter Milan’s Jose Mourinho has claimed that striker Wayne Rooney should be banned.

Rooney was embroiled in controversy in United’s last game of the tournament when he appeared to stamp on AaB Alborg defender Kasper Risgard.

The incident was subsequently investigated by UEFA who refused to take the incident any further.

Yet, according to The Sun, Mourinho clearly feels Rooney should have faced a punishment and compared the incident to one he faced when manager of Chelsea.

In the Blues’ Champions League campaign of 2005, midfielder Michael Essien was hit with a suspension after an incident with Dietmar Hamann and was forced to miss Chelsea’s next games against Barcelona.

“When I was with Chelsea something really extraordinary happened when through TV evidence Essien was suspended for three games and didn’t play our two games against Barcelona,” explained Mourinho before adding, “The same thing didn’t happen last week with Rooney, so he will be available to  play against us in the knockout stage. But I accept all this which is a consequence of the rules.”

Despite this the Portuguese claimed he is happy with the draw and claimed he had wanted to face United. He said: “How fascinating to play against Manchester United, against the champions. It will be beautiful in the second leg in a fantastic stadium but so will it be in the first game at our place, at the San Siro which will be packed.

Yes, I wanted United because I wanted to face the best. They’re the champions of Europe and in two days will have the chance to be champions of the world.”

--Gill Clark, Goal.com