Real Madrid head coach, Jose Mourinho, has revisited his controversial fallout with former Chelsea team doctor Eva Carneiro, maintaining that her gender had nothing to do with his response to the incident.
Mourinho discussed the long-running controversy in his new three-part Netflix documentary, MOURINHO, more than a decade after the incident that attracted widespread attention during his second spell at Chelsea.
The dispute occurred after Chelsea’s 2-2 draw with Swansea City in August 2015, when Carneiro and physiotherapist Jon Fearn entered the pitch to attend to Eden Hazard late in the match.
Mourinho was unhappy with the decision because he believed Hazard was not seriously injured.
The Belgian’s exit from the field temporarily reduced Chelsea to nine players, following goalkeeper Thibaut Courtois’ earlier dismissal.
Carneiro later accused Mourinho of sexual discrimination and alleged that he directed an offensive Portuguese expression at her during the confrontation.
Mourinho subsequently labelled Carneiro and Fearn “impulsive and naive”.
Carneiro was later removed from first-team duties before leaving Chelsea the following month.
Looking back at the incident in the documentary, Mourinho rejected suggestions that his reaction was influenced by Carneiro being a woman.
“For me, a lady doctor is the same as a man’s doctor,” he said. “So, as always, I use my vocabulary when I’m not happy.
“There are words in moments where the tension is very, very high. Normally, people with football culture, with football DNA, with football background, they go over it in one second. In that case, it was different.”
The Portuguese manager also stood by his assessment that Hazard had not suffered an injury serious enough to require medical attention.
“I’m not a doctor, but my eyes know when a player is injured, and they know when a player is not injured,” Mourinho said.
“I knew that he was not injured, but the doctors went to the pitch, and in that moment we were left with nine players.”
Hazard also reflected on the incident in the documentary, describing it as “nothing special” while acknowledging Mourinho’s tendency to magnify situations.
“With Jose everything is bigger,” Hazard said.
Former Chelsea captain John Terry said Mourinho’s expectations concerning medical treatment were already clear to the squad at the time.
“Medically, he would say unless it’s really, really bad, then they’re not coming on,” Terry said.
“That was the understanding for us as players; the medical staff, everyone bought into that.
“It was a big moment obviously and he took a lot of backlash for that. There was a lot of heat on the football club.”
Carneiro later took legal action against both Chelsea and Mourinho, including a constructive dismissal claim against the club and a discrimination claim against the manager.
The dispute was settled in 2016, although the terms of the agreement were kept confidential. Chelsea subsequently issued an unreserved apology to Carneiro and her family.
Mourinho, however, did not issue a public apology at the time, and his latest comments in the documentary reportedly contain no apology for the incident.
The controversy became one of the defining episodes of Mourinho’s second Chelsea tenure, which came to an end in December 2015 when he was dismissed, just months after guiding the club to the Premier League title.
The documentary also includes Mourinho’s revelation that he had reached an agreement to succeed Sir Alex Ferguson as Manchester United manager in 2013 before eventually returning to Chelsea.
