The Independent report:
‘Jose Mourinho was accused of lying by Uefa yesterday when European football's governing body served the Chelsea manager with a disrepute charge that could result in him being fined and banned from the touchline for the Champions' League quarter-final against Bayern Munich.
‘In a damning attack on the integrity of Mourinho and Chelsea, Uefa left open the possibility of the club being thrown out of the Champions' League for "false declarations" in their version of events at half-time against Barcelona last month. While that remains unlikely, Chelsea have been left in no doubt as to how seriously Uefa regards their behaviour in a saga that has caused the retirement of the referee that night, Anders Frisk.
‘The disrepute charge is based on the testimonies of Mourinho, his assistant Steve Clarke and the security official Les Miles, who claimed that they saw the Barcelona coach, Frank Rijkaard, enter the private room of Frisk at half-time at the Nou Camp. Uefa claims that the allegations about the Swedish referee, who retired over threats made to him as a result of controversy surrounding the match, could not possibly have been true.
‘The case, which will be a severe embarrassment to the Chelsea hierarchy, will be heard by an independent disciplinary body in Nyon on Thursday next week and is likely to result in a severe punishment for the Stamford Bridge club. A source at Uefa said yesterday that Chelsea had "contradicted themselves" in their report and that the governing body had "evidence to show that Chelsea are wrong".
‘Despite its reputation as a conservative organisation, feelings are running extremely high at Uefa over Frisk's impromptu retirement on the basis of alleged threats from Chelsea supporters who believe Mourinho's accusations that he favoured Barcelona. The tone of Uefa's language and, the nature of the criticism levelled at Mourinho, is unprecedented for the governing body and reflects its new determination to protect referees from any kind of intimidation.
UEFA's statement:
"Uefa today announced the opening of disciplinary proceedings against Chelsea FC, head coach Jose Mourinho, assistant manager Steve Clarke and security official Les Miles, for making false declarations, notably in the complaint sent by Chelsea following the Uefa Champions' League match played against Barcelona at the Camp Nou on 23 February.
"By further disseminating these wrong and unfounded statements, Chelsea FC allowed its technical staff to deliberately create a poisoned and negative ambience among the teams and to put pressure on the refereeing officials."