Van Gaal labels his captain’s celebrations ‘stupid’

Van Persie removed his shirt after scoring the late equaliser against Chelsea

MANCHESTER: Louis van Gaal has labelled compatriot Robin van Persie’s celebrations as ‘stupid’ as he earned himself a booking for taking off his shirt after scoring a dramatic late equaliser for Manchester United in their 1-1 draw at home to Premier League leaders Chelsea.

While Van Gaal was relieved to have secured what he felt was a deserved point against his former protégé, he was not so impressed with his forward's celebrations. "You have seen a stupid reaction to the goal," said Van Gaal. "You can be excited but you don't have to pull your shirt off. Then you have a yellow card; that is not so smart.”

Van Gaal added that he felt his team deserved the late equaliser but admitted that his side did not play at their level best. "We deserved a point. You know that, Jose Mourinho knows that also,” he said. “I said to the boys, it wasn't our best performance and that's a pity because in these moments you have to show yourself against the better teams."

Van Persie was one of nine players booked during the match, a high figure given the non-violent nature of the contest, to go with Branislav Ivanovic's red card for a second bookable offence, after his foul on Angel di Maria led to the free-kick that presented Van Persie with his chance to equalise.

And Mourinho was certainly not pleased with the performance of referee Phil Dowd, although the Chelsea manager made sure he was discreet about criticising the official. "I did five interviews and in all five, the first question was my comments on the referee," he explained. "I told them; my comment is that when five people ask me the same thing, I don't need to answer.”

Despite the late equaliser, the Portuguese was happy with his players. "Chelsea were fantastic even in these circumstances, so even more credit to my players,” he said. “The result is not the result we came for. We came to win and we showed that from the first minute. The performance is always fantastic, the result not so good, but acceptable.”

United have no time to rest on their laurels with a visit to Eastlands for the Manchester derby against reigning English champions City coming up next weekend and Van Gaal refused to speculate on how his side will respond to playing yet another big game so soon. "You cannot predict," he said.
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