Manchester United manager Jose Mourinho gestures after the match REUTERS/Stefano Rellandini
TURIN, NOVEMBER 8 (REUTERS): Manchester United boss Jose Mourinho defended his taunting of Juventus supporters after his side's sensational late revival which saw them grab a 2-1 win over the Italians and boost their chances of reaching the knockout stages of the Champions League.
“If you understand Italian you will know that I was insulted by them for 90 minutes. I didn’t offend anyone, I just made a gesture to tell them that I wanted to hear them louder," Mourinho told reporters after cupping his ear to the home fans at the final whistle, prompting a cascade of howling whistles.
"I probably shouldn’t have done it, and with a cool head I wouldn’t have. But with my family insulted, including my Inter Milan family, I reacted like this."
When quizzed in a post-match interview with BT Sport about what had prompted his gesture to the Juventus fans and animated confrontation with some of their players after the game, Mourinho appeared to send a thinly veiled message to English football's organising body.
"Do you understand Italian? Then maybe ask the FA to translate for you," he said.
Mourinho said he was pleased with his side's performance after the team had been outplayed and beaten 1-0 by Juve two weeks previously at Old Trafford. "It is a fantastic victory for us, a victory that is not just about the points we lost at home. It is about the feeling of how well we played," he said.
"And I think even if this game doesn't end with victory I would have the same feeling, that the team played really, really well from the first minute against -- I repeat -- a super team."
The thrilling finale in Turin is the latest in a series of epic turnaround victories for United, who beat Bournemouth 2-1 with an added-time goal from Marcus Rashford on Saturday and also rallied late to beat Newcastle in October.
The comeback victory sets United up nicely for Sunday's local derby against Premier League leaders Manchester City.
