Mourinho plays down Chelsea medical row

The Blues boss confirms that club doctor Eva Carneiro and physio Jon Fearn will not be on the bench against Manchester City but says that disagreements are healthy

Chelsea manager Jose Mourinho has played down criticism he has received for a row that developed between him and his medical staff in Saturday's 2-2 draw with Swansea City but confirmed that club doctor Eva Carneiro and physio Jon Fearn will not be on the bench for Sunday's Premier League encounter with Manchester City.

The Portuguese labelled the pair "impulsive and naive" and suggested that they did not "understand the game" after they ran onto the pitch in the closing stages of the Swansea game to treat Eden Hazard after a heavy tackle.

Hazard had to leave the field following treatment, forcing the Blues to play the ensuing seconds with just eight outfield players after the earlier dismissal of Thibaut Courtois.

Mourinho then reportedly reduced the first-team responsibilities of Carneiro and Fearn after the Gibraltar-born doctor posted on Facebook thanking the public for all their support in the days following the row.

At a scheduled pre-match press conference on Friday, Mourinho confirmed that Carneiro and Fearn would not be present at the Etihad Stadium but insisted that the disagreement had been healthy.

He told reporters: "I don't want to run away from [the incident]. I accept the question and understand.

"First of all, I want to say I have a fantastic medical department, with top doctors, more than a dozen professionals, a very good relationship with them and, as they tell me all the time, they were never praised so much as in last few years. I praise them lots of times. They don't forget that, I don't.

"We have disagreements during this perio [but] we need disagreements to improve. We work together.

"Your question about the bench... for some people it's very important. For others, the most important thing is not what people think you do, it's what you do. The bench is my responsibility. It's my decision.

"Every week I face a decision about the bench. I have seven assistants, only four can go on the bench. We have four kitmen, only one goes on the bench. Medical, only two go to the bench.

"It's important to be on the bench for some; for others it's more important what they do behind the scenes for the good of the team.

"Jon Fearn and Dr Carneiro will not be on the bench but that doesn't mean that Sunday is the rest of our season or the rest of our careers.

"My decision [this weekend] does not mean they won't be on the bench in the future."

Mourinho declined to address accusations of sexism relating to his treatment of Carneiro but reiterated that he has a healthy relationship with Chelsea staff and does not see himself as ruthless.

"The relationships of the majority of those who work with me are open to disagreement, open to criticism," he added. "The game is a very emotional space for every one of us. Football is football and the match is the match. Everything in the match can be different.

"The meeting I had with the medical department told me that the way we are doing things together since two years ago allows us to have this kind of relationship.

"I speak about myself, not about other managers, and I am far from being ruthless. Far, far. I have a fantastic relationship with almost everyone who works with me.

"I am open to mistakes, open to communication, I am open to dialogue and criticism. I make mistakes and as people in my medical staff were saying to me yesterday, 'We work together, we improve together'."