Jose Mourinho has aimed a sarcastic jab at La Liga president Javier Tebas amid the ongoing crisis between the Real Madrid board and the league chief, with the Portuguese suggesting Tebas's behaviour can only be excused if there is a medical condition behind it.
Asked about the row ahead of Sunday's trip to Sevilla, Mourinho refused to go into detail. He opted instead for one withering line about the La Liga president, another example of his knack for landing a message without dressing it up.
Quizzed on what he makes of Tebas, the Portuguese told Spanish newspaper "AS": "I don't want to talk about this matter, because there are limits and limits. Excuses can only be offered if the case is clinically medical, otherwise there are no excuses. I don't want to get into this subject."
Turning to the broader feud between Madrid and Tebas, Mourinho said the club's supporters know exactly what the team is up against. He then urged both sides to keep the argument inside Spain rather than let it spill abroad.
He said: "Real Madrid's fans are aware of what they are facing. And given the standing that the Spanish league enjoys abroad, and that we are the current world champions, it is better that we try to keep these matters here and that they do not go outside."
What are the details of the crisis between Real Madrid and Tebas?
Friday brought another flare-up. Both sides traded pointed statements through the media all day, and the stand-off now looks to have hit a dead end.
Tebas lit the fuse by comparing the output of Real Madrid's television channel to the propaganda methods of Joseph Goebbels, the propaganda minister in Nazi Germany. The channel, he argued, constantly casts the club as a victim, recycles grievances, stokes suspicion and cherry-picks events to suit its own narrative.
He went on to clarify on social media that his comparison was aimed at propaganda methods rather than Nazi ideology or Real Madrid's fans. Those methods, as he described them, rest on systematic repetition, painting opponents as enemies and bending facts to fit a chosen story.
Madrid's board were furious. They demanded Tebas resign immediately as president of the Spanish league and vice-president of the Royal Spanish Football Federation, branding him "a real plague on Spanish football".
Likening the channel's methods to Nazi propaganda mechanisms was serious and unacceptable, the club said, insisting Tebas's clarification about Nazi ideology does nothing to soften the offence, according to its communiqué.
Tebas hit back by digging up previous comments from Madrid president Florentino Perez, who said: "I could have won 14 league titles, but the rest were taken from me." Some of the referees lodged a complaint after those remarks.
So where exactly is the line? Tebas questioned the criteria being applied, asking why talk of league titles being stolen counts as freedom of expression, while criticism of propaganda methods, with any ideological comparison or targeting of fans ruled out, raises the prospect of official intervention.
He stressed the need for the criteria to be applied independently and consistently, saying: "Freedom of expression should not depend on the name of the person speaking."