Passion vs professionalism: Hashing out Chelsea’s Marco Ianni kerfuffle

The Marco Ianni – Jose Mourinho incident has become a bit of a Rorschach test for football fans and pundits, even beyond partisan hackery. We asked our contributors for their thoughts on the touchline clash.

Marco Ianii gave Jose Mourinho everything he could hope for after surrendering the lead at Chelsea: something to talk about other than surrendering the lead at Chelsea. Our contributors span the globe and nearly as large a range of sporting and fan backgrounds. Here’s what they thought – feel free to respond to them on Twitter with your own thoughts!

@TheBrant17: The spectacle after Ross Barkley drew Chelsea level was embarrassing and stupid. A match Chelsea were winning before giving up two goals through defensive ineptitude and then coming back to steal a draw is not worth that type of celebration or disrespect. In a match Chelsea should have won, Marco Ianni is celebrating barely squeaking out a point.

Before I get bombarded with reminders of how classless and disrespectful Jose Mourinho can be, let me point out Mourinho has accomplished more at Chelsea alone than Marco Ianni ever will.

The only person on the sideline allowed to celebrate like that is the manager. That way, the opposing manager can look him in the eyes and bring up the issue. Marco Ianni made Maurizio Sarri look stupid, because Sarri had to apologize to Mourinho on behalf of some assistant.

Of the whole incident, my biggest issue is Ianni running out of the tunnel, celebrating in front of the United bench, then running right back into the tunnel to hide. If you have the nerve to celebrate the way you did, you better stay out front and take the consequences.

@Travtical: Let me paint a picture. In one corner is a man who likely knows he is on the outs. Very little has gone right for him recently. Just as he is about to steal a massive victory from his former club, a John Cena lookalike scores.

In the other corner is some assistant manager who just saw his team equalize during the last seconds of the game. Only a draw, sure, but that is better than a loss. Sports create passion so he celebrated passionately.

Should Marco Ianni have wandered over in front of Mourinho? Nope. Should we feel sorry about the chants towards Mourinho afterwards (another side of this story)? Nope, Mourinho burned that bridge.

At the end of the day, Ianni took a good thing (passion) and crossed the line (literally left the technical area). A slap on the wrist and apology to Mourinho is all that is needed.

@HugoAmaya91: The game against Manchester United was already as tense as it could be. Now, add a celebration provoking Jose Mourinho and you have a show. However, as entertaining as it all was for a short while, Marco Ianni’s celebration – every aspect of it, from beginning to end – was unnecessary and disrespectful. There was no need to celebrate a mediocre performance of a draw, much less to come out of the tunnel and step out of the technical area.

That said, it should not matter. The celebration was an explosion of emotion and a dig against Mourinho. While respect between the benches must always be maintained, giving Mourinho a taste of his own medicine is a good thing. He burnt his bridge with the Blues long ago. He wears red and is now a rival. Just because he won a lot with Chelsea doesn’t mean he can walk over everyone. Everyone at Chelsea should support Ianni and move on.

@abhixxek: If there’s anyone who can dish it out but can’t take it, it’s Jose Mourinho. This was classic Jose, trying to deflect attention from a poor result and from his own inadequacies with something as stupid as this.

Sure, Marco Ianni went a bit over the top with his celebrations, but let’s not forget, Mourinho is no saint in such matters. Who can forget his sprint along the touchline at old Trafford with Porto? Or his goading of Liverpool fans in his second stint at Chelsea, and how he used to shake the hand of his opposing manager and leave for the dressing room before the final whistle? And then there’s the time he poked the late Tito Villanova in the eye in a touchline fracas.

Mourinho’s reaction to being taunted was to chase Ianni like a bull that’s had a red rag waved in its face. What exactly was he planning to do if he caught hold of the Chelsea staff member? Kick him in the nuts and do Fortnite’s ‘Take the L’ dance? This episode does not merit more attention than it has already received. Ianni has already apologized to Jose, so let’s just ask him to be a bit more subtle next time and move on.

@BRouen13: What would football be without the passion? Really, really, terribly boring. That doesn’t mean, though, a person should let their passion take hold of them and stop them from being a gentleman.

Marco Ianni should not have deliberately celebrated in Mourinho’s face. But should Mourinho have chased him down the tunnel with the same unhinged reaction? No. Both men behaved poorly.

Both men should apologize for their behavior and that should be the end of it. The spectacle is absurd. Mourinho is still the greatest coach in Chelsea history and deserves to be respected and that is all. Ianni apologized because it’s the right thing to do. Everyone should stop this obtuse nonsense and move on, and not let Mourinho use it as a distraction from how he’s not doing a wonderful job up in Manchester at the moment.

@techlec2000: Marco Ianni is no different than many of the coaches, players, supporters or parents who stand watching football from junior level up to the upper echelons of the Premier League every weekend. Winning or, in this case, preventing someone else from winning really matters. Never mind it was only an equaliser. It was a dagger through the hearts of Manchester United supporters. Ianni knew that and he just couldn’t stop himself from celebrating.

Running past Jose Mourinho, goading the United bench, is not what you expect to see from a member of your coaching team. It was certainly not what Maurizio Sarri wanted to see. But, as all parties now seem to agree and are happy to accept, it was simply a result of getting caught up in a moment. End of story.

Perhaps more worrying – but fully expected – than anything that went on in the heat of the moment at Stamford Bridge is the vociferous reaction by some journalists and pundits in the aftermath. It’s meat and drink to these people: Jose Mourinho and Chelsea FC and another excellent opportunity to beat both with a stick. It’s all been a win-win situation for the anti-Chelsea-Mourinho brigade.

@NateHofmann3: In the moment, my reaction to the events that unfolded in the aftermath of Barkley’s goal could best be described as a near-flawless reenactment of that GIF of Michael Jackson eating popcorn.

There are two delightful subtleties that really vaulted this into the highest strata of touchline fracases.  One was Phil Neville’s incredulity at – and utter contempt for – what was happening, demanding Ianni be sacked before the television cameras had even leapt to the scene of the crime.  Having his soft-spoken protestations and assassinations of Ianni’s character as a backing track for the melee really added to its overall atmosphere.

The second nugget of noteworthiness was Ianni’s obvious intention of provoking Mourinho with his celebration.  Upon replay, Ianni clearly celebrates towards Mourinho once to no effect, only to then double back and make sure Mourinho really has a chance to take in the full glory of his exuberance.

In the end, cooler heads quickly prevailed and both managers said the right things in the post-match press conferences. Ianni would probably benefit from a few matches spent elsewhere in the stadium, and switching to decaf wouldn’t hurt, either. But there was no moral atrocity that requires any sort of existential reckoning.

@GabeHJournalist: One part of me absolute hates it. Maurizio Sarri has steered the Chelsea ship perfectly thus far. Everything was smooth sailing until Marco Ianni — a nobody before Saturday — strayed away from Sarri’s core values of Sarri.

However, there is a part of me that is here for ALL of it. While Mourinho stuck to his word and kept it classy, Ianni did what every Chelsea supporter wanted to do — rub it in Mourinho’s face. After a fantastic match where Chelsea saved points, tensions were high and Ianni’s celebration unleashed the beast that was the built up tension between the two sides.

Other managers have done it in the past and others will continue to do it in the future. As long as Chelsea FC is winning, I don’t care how the coaches or players celebrate.

@IAmVishnuRaj: An equalizer celebrated at the last minute of injury time AT THE HEAT OF THE MOMENT can make you do anything. Rubbing it in Jose Mourinho’s face is nothing worth talking about. Everybody involved have moved on. I don’t understand why some people like Phil Neville have so much opinion on this.

Saint Jose had more than enough of such moments. He ran through touchline multiple times, poked someone in the eye, told opposing fans to shut up with his “shhh” motion and ran onto Camp Nou’s pitch with his finger pointed up. I don’t even want to talk about the whole Eva Carneiro issue.