"you've never been a player, so you don't know.." says Ramos to manager Mourinho

José Mourinho has clashed with Sergio Ramos

Real Madrid's manager José Mourinho is now under attack from players and fans after their defeat from Barcelona in the first leg of their Copa del Rey quarter-final.

A leak to Marca, the Spanish sports newspaper, revealed that on Friday, 48 hours after Real Madrid had lost at home to Barcelona , Mourinho ignited an incendiary exchange when he accused Sergio Ramos of giving away their opponents' first goal by failing to follow his orders to mark Carles Puyol.

When the player attempted to explain why he had switched to marking Gerard Piqué rather than Puyol, Mourinho responded: "So you're going to be the coach as well, are you?" "No," Ramos replied, "but looking at the situation in a match, sometimes you have to change the marking. But you, you've never been a player, so you don't know what sometimes needs to be done in that kind of a situation."

"You've never been a player, so you don't know ..." Those words of Ramos's must often come into the minds of top footballers finding themselves at cross-purposes with a coach who arrived in the job without having played the game at the highest level.

Arsenal manager Arsene Weneger is facing a similar situation as his relationship with Gunners supporters reached an all-time low at the weekend after his substitution of Oxlade-Chamberlain for Andrey Arshavin, who was later blamed responsible for conceiving the goal against Manchester United on Sunday. 

Robin van Persie's horrified reaction was also seen after the withdrawal of Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain, just after the teenager had created the chance from which the captain scored the equalising goal.