The “gods of football” were on Newcastle’s side insists Mourinho after weekend’s shock defeat

The “gods of football” were on Newcastle’s side insists Mourinho after weekend’s shock defeat

Jose Mourinho has said the “gods of football” were on the side of Newcastle United after his side’s defeat at St James Park on Sunday.

The Magpies trumped Mourinho’s Manchester United 1-0 on Tyneside thanks to a second-half strike from Matt Ritchie – and the defeat now leaves the Red Devils 16-points behind leaders Manchester City.

After a frustrating afternoon at St James Park, Mourinho says he feels his side were unlucky not to take anything from the game.


“The gods of football were on their side. It wasn’t going to happen for us today. Newcastle gave what they have and what they don’t have, that’s a beautiful thing in football.” said Mourinho.

“They fought for their point, a point is what they had in mind. We made a defensive mistake and when they are in front they had only one thing in mind and gave their lives to keep a clean sheet.

Alexis Sanchez struggled to make his mark on a difficult afternoon at St James Park.

“We could be here for 10 hours and we wouldn’t score a goal – that’s the feeling. When you see the amount of chances we lost, starting in the first half when Anthony [Martial] was facing the keeper. In the second half, we had Alexis [Sanchez] with an open goal and then we had an accumulation of situations where it’s incredible that we didn’t score.”

Despite his shock at his side’s inability to find the goal however, Mourinho was happy to admit his side were at fault for the goal that ultimately saw them leave Newcastle empty handed.

“I think we also have to say the goal is a mistake.” he continued, “A lateral free-kick which travelled a long distance to the box – we lose the first ball in the air because we didn’t compete in the air and then we lost the second ball on the floor and from that moment, you could say it’s about Newcastle luck – but it’s also fair to say Newcastle fight.”