SOCCER:Jose Mourinho admitted last night his frustration with the referee Mike Riley's performance during yesterday's FA Cup quarter-final against Tottenham Hotspur prompted him to spring to the edge of his technical area and berate the official as a "filho da puta" ("son of a whore").

The Chelsea manager, who had "politely" confronted Riley in the tunnel at half-time to complain at his display, was infuriated by a succession of decisions which he perceived to be against his team. The Premiership champions rallied late to draw 3-3 having trailed by two goals at the interval, though Mourinho was captured on television swearing in Portuguese at the referee.

"I say these kind of words 10 times in every 15 words," said Mourinho with a smile. "If you had a microphone on the dugout you would hear them all the time. The word can be abusive if you perceive it to be abusive. I say it to myself, I say it to my players, that word which I don't want to repeat. I say it 50 times a game, 50 times in training and I don't want to be offensive to anybody. I can be emotional but I'm polite."

It is not the first time this season Mourinho has criticised Riley. "All season, it's not been easy in matches with Mr Riley," added the Portuguese. "Against Liverpool (Mohamed) Sissoko should have been sent off and then, five minutes later, Michael Ballack is out (sent off). Against Reading we lost two goalkeepers (Petr Cech and Carlo Cudicini to injury after clashes with opposing players) and no opponent got even a yellow card. But what can I say? He's a good referee.

"I approached him in the tunnel, always in a polite way. I was polite, he was polite. That's the way I do (it) when I do (it). I told him that. But it worked the other way because the second half was worse."

Tottenham head coach Martin Jol spoke with Riley as the players left the pitch at the interval - "I just told him not to let the crowd influence him," he said - and conceded his side had missed a wonderful opportunity to inflict a first home domestic defeat on Mourinho, excluding one on penalties, since Porto lost to Beira Mar in February 2002.

"It's still a great compliment to my players that we are disappointed only to have drawn at Stamford Bridge," said Jol.

Dimitar Berbatov is likely to miss Wednesday's Uefa Cup game there against Braga because of a groin injury.

Meanwhile, Manchester City manager Stuart Pearce remained defiant after his side exited the FA Cup. Goals from Aaron Mokoena - who was later sent off - and Matt Derbyshire gave Blackburn a 2-0 win and a place in the semi-finals. It means City have lost four of their last five games in all competitions and the supporters voiced their disapproval at Ewood Park.

Asked if he felt his position was under threat, Pearce responded: "It is irrelevant to me, whether it is or isn't. As a manager you are only one game away from being under pressure. Things change very quickly. We must try and win the next game."

City face Chelsea on Wednesday and Middlesbrough on Saturday and could be sucked into a relegation battle. The supporters are getting increasingly angered at the club's plight and chanted at the players "you are not fit to wear the shirt". Two of them even took it upon themselves to run onto the pitch.

Blackburn manager Mark Hughes was delighted at the way his side applied themselves. He said: "We deserve to be in the hat. We controlled the game, especially in the first half. We had to be strong as they threw a lot of balls into our box. But we are brave enough to push people forward and that is the reason we got the second goal."

Watford manager Adrian Boothroyd watched Ben Foster help knock Plymouth out of the FA Cup 1-0 at Home Park - then tipped him to become the finest goalkeeper in the world. Foster earned his first England cap last month and is competing with Paul Robinson as Steve McClaren's first choice. "Ben Foster underlined why I think he will be the world's number-one goalkeeper," said Boothroyd.

Foster was called upon to preserve Watford's lead after Hameur Bouazza had opened the scoring in the 22nd minute. "He's ruined my dream with some great saves," said Plymouth boss Ian Holloway.

Guardian Service