Chelsea vs Werder Bremen: Jose Mourinho blasts referee for 'killing the match' as Blues suffer 3-0 defeat

The Premier League season is still two weeks away from returning yet that hasn’t stopped Jose Mourinho defending a poor Chelsea performance and defeat by blasting the referee, claiming Harm Osmers display “killed the match”.

The Blues were handed their first defeat of the pre-season program in a comprehensive 3-0 loss to German side Werder Bremen, but like many times in the past when his side have come out on the wrong side of the result, Mourinho took aim at the man with the whistle rather than his own players.

Osmers was firmly in Mourinho’s cross hairs, although the German referee hadn’t done himself any favours after awarding two very soft penalties to the home side, one for a John Terry handball and the second for a last-ditch tackle from Nathan Ake that was very harsh on the left-back.

Mourinho claimed Osmers had turned the match into a “circus for Bremen fans”, and criticised the referee for failing to allow a competitive match that would be a step-up for the touring side from their pre-season trip to Austria.

“I learned nothing from this game,” Mourinho said. “Our expectations are not fulfilled because when we decided to have this match here in Bremen we thought about an evolution in difficulty.

“We were expecting a fast game a competitive game but we come here and the referee thought this was a circus for Bremen fans – for them to have fun - and he killed the match.

“This game for us would have been perfect. I like the Werder Bremen team - they are fast, intense and they defend with a lot of people. The opponent is perfect for is to compete today but we couldn't play.”

Mourinho watched on as Eljero Elia, Ludovic Obraniak and Felix Kroos gave the Bundesliga side an impressive victory, but the Portuguese went on to describe the two penalty decisions as “nonsense”, and was highly critical of Osmers tendency to disrupt the game by awarding free-kicks rather than allowing it flow by playing advantage.

“Every foul, he gave a free kick against us to stop the game - and when we had advantage he stopped the game for a free kick which stopped us playing,” Moruinho added.

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“The penalties, especially the last one, were nonsense.

“I am disappointed with that because we want to train and the referee didn't let us have a good session.”

Mourinho finished by aiming one last jibe at Osmers, as he said tongue-in-cheek the decision to penalise Ake was act to “finish his job in this beautiful party for Bremen”.

He told Chelsea TV: “The referee gave the penalty against Ake to finish his job in this beautiful party because it was a beautiful party for Werder Bremen.

“When the referee behaves this one did, this is not a friendly anymore.”

Mourinho does have a habit to pour scorn on the referee when his side suffer defeat, a tactic he has regularly used throughout his career to deflect attentions away form his side.

Last season, Mourinho was fined by the Football Association for sarcastically praising referee Mike Dean and Professional Game Match Officials Board manager Mike Riley following the 2-1 defeat to Sunderland in April this year.