Manchester United were denied a crucial victory away to Chelsea earlier today by a dramatic 96th minute equaliser from substitute Ross Barkley.
However, an excellent game of football was overshadowed by a chaotic melee that occurred in the aftermath involving Manchester United manager Jose Mourinho and Chelsea coach Marco Ianni.
The home side took the lead midway through the first-half when Antonio Rudiger lost Paul Pogba from a corner and powered home a header from eight yards out.
United upped their intensity in the second period though and drew level on 55 minutes through a superbly taken finish from Anthony Martial from close range. The 22-year-old France international then sent the travelling fans into hysteria by curling home brilliantly from the edge of the area on 73 minutes.
The Red Devils looked to be holding on for just their second win in 16 years at Stamford Bridge, until David Luiz slammed a powerful back post header off the post and Barkley smashed home after David De Gea had superbly denied Rudiger’s follow up effort.
Things soon turned ugly on the sidelines though when Chelsea coach Ianni seemed to goad Mourinho before running down the tunnel, with the Portuguese coach losing his cool and chasing after the Blues assistant.
Both benches soon became involved and it took several minutes for everything to calm down, with Mike Dean eventually calling time on the game after 98 minutes.
However, speaking after the game Mourinho insisted the incident had now been put to bed after Ianni apologised in Sarri’s office, with the United boss admitting that he has made similar mistakes during his controversial career.
“Oh come on, I can tell you that 97 minutes of the game was so good that you have to focus on that.’’ Mourinho told Sky Sports.
“I did not get respect back from Chelsea [fans] but that is not my responsiblity. What I did here today I will do in Madrid, in Milan, in Porto, the reaction from the fans is not up to me.
“I am not annoyed with anything. What happened with Sarri’s assistant, Sarri was the first one to come to me and say he will resolve it. The assistant has already come to me and apologised, I told him to forget it. I have made a lot of mistakes in my career.”