Mourinho will face no action from Uefa over his dramatic “bottle gate” touchline reaction to Manchester United’s late winner against Young Boys as Luke Shaw admitted Old Trafford no longer held any fear for opponents.
Mourinho kicked over one basket of water bottles and then hurled another over his shoulder and into the turf after watching Marouane Fellaini score in stoppage time at Old Trafford on Tuesday night to earn a 1-0 win and secure United’s progress to the Champions League knockout stage.
The United manager later admitted that his exuberant reaction was born of “relief” and “frustration” that it took his side so long to see off the Swiss champions during yet another unconvincing home showing.
Mourinho’s reaction was epic. He literally killed those bottles. #MUFC #MUNYB #UCL pic.twitter.com/x0XqtQlYAZ
— L. Lazlow ?? (@lazlow_hu) November 27, 2018
Mourinho was sent to the stands and given a one-match touchline ban by the Football Association in November 2016 after kicking a water bottle during United’s goalless draw against West Ham in the Premier League.
But Uefa tend to opt a more lenient stance over such matters and the European governing body have decided not to charge Mourinho after the German match delegate, Rainer Koch, made no mention of the incident in his report.
United’s narrow victory averted the prospect of Mourinho’s side needing a result against Valencia in Spain in their final Group H match to reach the last 16.
But it was only their fourth win in 10 home matches this season, during which time they have managed just 11 goals, and Shaw acknowledged Old Trafford had lost its fear factor.
“Some teams used to fear OId Trafford but I think sometimes now people come in and think they can get results,” the United left back said. “Most importantly, that’s what we have got to change as a team and as a club – to bring that fear factor back to an Old Trafford that not many fear at the moment.”
Mourinho complained after the game that United are finding it “very difficult” to score, but despite keeping clean sheets against Palace and Young Boys, his side have also been shipping goals far too frequently.
With Victor Lindelof ruled out for around three weeks with a thigh injury, Phil Jones was asked to partner Chris Smalling at the back for the first time this season – the seventh different central defensive pairing Mourinho has fielded in – and Smalling admitted United could do without more defensive upheaval.
“It’s not ideal,” he said. “I think when you have a consistent partnership you can see there are less chances being given away. It is what it is, it’s something that we get used to and we’re used to playing with each other in training. The partnerships keep changing but it was another clean sheet and I think we need to get back to where we were in the last couple of years when we were very hard to break down.”