Former Chelsea doctor Eva Carneiro has publicly criticized Jose Mourinho after the manager refused to apologize in a new Netflix documentary for their infamous touchline row in 2015. Carneiro hit back at her former boss after he justified his conduct during the match, which led to her departure from the Premier League club.
Mourinho defended his actions in the three-part docu-series titled MOURINHO, which covers his three decades in professional football. The Portuguese manager, who currently manages Real Madrid, stood by his alleged verbal abuse of Carneiro during a fixture against Swansea City 11 years ago.
Carneiro served as Chelsea's first-team doctor from 2011 until her departure in 2015, having originally joined the club's medical staff in 2009. Mourinho, one of football's most decorated managers, led Chelsea during two separate spells between 2004 and 2015, winning three Premier League titles with the London club.
Responding on social media platform X, Carneiro wrote: "11 years on and here we are reliving the worst. Hope they made some money."
Carneiro also targeted former Chelsea captain John Terry, who supported Mourinho in the documentary. "We are bound by a medico-legal code of conduct," Carneiro posted. "Genuinely it would be healthy for John Terry to learn the rules of the game. It’s been long enough mate."
In a separate post, Carneiro explained the protocol surrounding the event. "So it is really simple," she wrote. "Referee Michael Oliver called us on TWICE, player Eden Hazard requested medical assistance, we then made eye contact from side line and he confirmed he needed medical assistance, TWICE. At that point my hands are bound as a medical professional."
The 2015 touchline clash
The incident occurred during a Premier League game between Chelsea and Swansea City at Stamford Bridge in 2015. Carneiro and physio Jon Fearn ran onto the pitch to treat winger Eden Hazard, who had gone down seemingly injured after referee Michael Oliver signaled for medical assistance.
Under Premier League rules and football regulations, a player who receives medical treatment on the pitch must temporarily leave the field of play. Hazard was forced to step off the pitch, leaving Chelsea temporarily with nine players after goalkeeper Thibaut Courtois had already been sent off earlier in the match.
Mourinho reacted furiously on the touchline as Carneiro and Fearn ran out to treat Hazard. Video footage showed the manager screaming expletives toward the medical staff, including "f*** off, man" and "f*** you, man". He also allegedly branded Carneiro a "daughter of a whore" in Portuguese.
In his initial public comments following the match, Mourinho called Carneiro "impulsive and naive" for entering the field. Carneiro was subsequently dropped from first-team duties and left Chelsea a month later.
Mourinho defends his conduct in new docu-series
Speaking in the docu-series, the 63-year-old manager insisted he treated Carneiro no differently than he would have treated a male medical colleague. "For me, a lady doctor is the same as a man’s doctor," Mourinho said. "So, as always, I use my vocabulary when I’m not happy."
Mourinho added: "There are words in moments where the tension is very, very high. Normally, people with football culture, with football DNA, with football background, they go over it in one second. In that case, it was different."
The manager maintained that he knew Hazard was not genuinely injured at the time. "I’m not a doctor, but my eyes know when a player is injured, and they know when a player is not injured," Mourinho said. "I knew that he was not injured, but the doctors went to the pitch, and in that moment we were left with nine players."
Hazard, who played under Mourinho for two years at Chelsea, also appeared in the documentary. The Belgian winger claimed "it was nothing special" at the time, but noted that "with Jose everything is bigger."
Terry backs manager as tribunal details re-emerge
John Terry, who captained Chelsea during both of Mourinho's managerial stints at Stamford Bridge, backed his former manager's approach in the documentary. Terry said players and staff were well aware of Mourinho's strict expectations regarding medical treatment on the pitch.
"Medically, he would say unless it’s really, really bad, then they’re [the team doctors] not coming on," Terry said in the documentary. "That was the understanding for us as players; the medical staff, everyone bought into that. It was a big moment obviously and he took a lot of backlash for that. There was a lot of heat on the football club."
Following her departure from London, Carneiro took Mourinho and Chelsea to an employment tribunal, claiming she was discriminated against by the manager and constructively dismissed by the club. During the tribunal proceedings, it was revealed that Chelsea had previously offered Carneiro £1.2million to silence her.
A deal was eventually completed in a back corridor of the court. Chelsea issued a statement saying the club "regretted the circumstances" leading to her exit and "apologises unreservedly to her and her family for the distress caused". Mourinho refused to apologize at the tribunal, where he grinned as he departed, and offered no apology in the new documentary.
The three-part Netflix docu-series MOURINHO, which is set to air on Tuesday, examines the highs and lows of Mourinho's career, during which he has won 26 major trophies. Former Chelsea players Terry and Frank Lampard, the club's all-time leading goalscorer, are among those providing anecdotes and insight into the manager's 30-year career.
