Jose Mourinho slams Neymar’s Celtic performance

Neymar pictured after a challenge by Celtic's Scott Brown. Picture :SNS

Chelsea manager Jose Mourinho has slammed Neymar over his antics at Celtic Park – as the Barcelona forward is embroiled in another diving storm from the weekend.

Mourinho has branded the behaviour of Neymar as sad after his theatrics led to Hoops captain Scott Brown being shown a controversial red card in last week’s narrow Champions League defeat by the Catalan giants.

The former Real Madrid boss also referred to Mario Balotelli for his part in AC Milan’s last-gasp penalty equaliser against Ajax.

Neymar’s apparent play-acting against Celtic drew criticism from Celtic manager Neil Lennon and Scotland head coach Gordon Strachan after Brown was red-carded for flicking a boot at the grounded player.

Mourinho said: “I have told the players many times, I hate it. It is very bad. And the search of a red card for another player is a disgrace.

“In some countries if you don’t do it you become like the naive one because others do.

“But you could see, for example, in the Champions League what happened in Glasgow and Amsterdam. And for me that is fairly sad.”

The Portuguese coach insists diving and play-acting need to be eradicated.

He added: “It’s up to the football authorities.

“Again, I am nobody, I just give my little opinion. Next week they will go again (if no action is taken). It’s about priorities.”

Neymar had two penalty claims turned down as Gerardo Martino’s side racked up an eighth straight La Liga win with a 4-1 victory over Valladolid on Saturday.

The Brazilian got on the scoresheet and set up Alexis Sanchez for one of his two goals, but Neymar came in for more criticism from opposing team boss Juan Ignacio Martinez, who said: “Neymar has a defect but I will not say what.”

Neymar replied: “I hope that what the Valladolid coach said is a good thing, that it refers to something positive, and if not I’d love to hear what it is.

“For me, they were two penalties.”