Now UEFA rap Chelsea boss

UEFA today criticised Jose Mourinho for claiming he had inside knowledge about Pierluigi Collina taking charge of tomorrow's Champions League match against Barcelona.

The first leg was overshadowed by a row about whether Frank Rijkaard visited the dressing room of referee Anders Frisk during half-time of Barca's 2-1 win a fortnight ago.

Mourinho said he knew Collina would officiate in the second match before the decision had been made and that earned a stinging rebuke from UEFA director of communications William Gaillard.

Gaillard said: "We didn't really appreciate Jose Mourinho saying at the beginning of the week that we had assured Chelsea that Collina would be refereeing the game. It is not true.

"He was trying to put pressure on us. We had decided in a certain way, which was to appoint Pierluigi Collina even before we considered the incidents. It made it very difficult for us to do so.

"Some people were arguing that if we do so we're bowing to pressure from Mourinho. If we don't do so, then again we're being influenced in appointing someone else when we wanted to appoint Collina. Frankly we don't like coaches or anyone from a team telling us which referee we should appoint. This is not within the fair play spirit that we want in the game.