UEFA fines Manchester United £13,000 over late Champions League kick off

Manchester United have been fined £13,000 for arriving late for their UEFA Champions league match against Valencia.

The team arrived Old Trafford at 7.16pm, 44 minutes before kick off, despite leaving their hotel at 6pm.

The delay was due to traffic congestion and UEFA agreed the game could be pushed back to an 8.05pm kick off to give the team more time to prepare.

But the club was charged and consequently fined for breaking two UEFA rules, one for arriving late and another for the late kick off as the game actually kicked off later than the 8.05pm time agreed.

Mourinho blamed Greater Manchester Police for not giving the team a police escort.

“We left the hotel at six o’clock, hoping that 30 minutes would be enough,” Mourinho said. “Which normally is but this time the police refused to do an escort so we come by ourselves. And we took from the Lowry Hotel, 75 minutes.

“And Uefa were nice, the referee was nice to allow us to start the game five minutes later because we at least need half an hour to be prepared but was not a problem with the club organisation.

“We anticipate everything that it could be dangerous, in the sense of arriving late but we were informed the police refused an escort,” said Mourinho.

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The police however replied Mourinho by saying a police escort is only given when there is threat of harm to players.