Jose Mourinho Found Guilty, Fined for Improper Conduct During Villa vs. Chelsea

Jose Mourinho has been fined £8,000 for improper conduct after stepping onto the pitch during Chelsea's Premier League loss to Aston Villa.

The FA confirmed Mourinho's punishment ahead of a key run for the Blues:

Mourinho denied a breach of FA Rule E3 in that his behaviour in re-entering the field of play and approaching the Match Referee in an attempt to speak to him, in or around the 90th minute of the game against Aston Villa on 15 March 2014, amounted to improper conduct.However, the charge was found proven at a personal hearing on Wednesday 9 April.

The incident in question arised at the conclusion of a dramatic Villa Park encounter. Trailing 1-0 during the crucial domestic tie and having already lost Willian to a harsh red card, Mourinho aimed to speak with referee Chris Foy after he sent Ramires off late in the game.

Mourinho was sent to the stands for the second time this season and suggested Foy could cost Chelsea the title with his display, according to Matt McGeehan of the Press Association (via the Independent):

"What happened in the defeat against Villa I never learn, I never accept. Somebody was very successful in putting a hurdle in front of us. And we crashed the hurdle against Aston Villa and we lost.[...] The only thing I didn't learn is to lose with that kind of referee performance, because it's not a mistake, it's a performance''.

Chelsea's title challenge continued to stutter when the West Londoners suffered a second successive away defeat to Crystal Palace. Mourinho's side are two points behind Liverpool with a fixture at Anfield still to come, but they will be four points short of Manchester City if Manuel Pellegrini's men win their two games in hand.

The Champions League is starting to look Chelsea's best bet of silverware this season. Mourinho masterminded a 2-0 quarter-final second leg win over Paris Saint-Germain, going through on away goals with a 3-3 scoreline on aggregate. Two of his substitutions—Andre Schurrle and Demba Ba—netted the important goals to dispatch the Ligue 1 champions.

Chelsea will find out their semi-final opponents on Friday. One of Bayern Munich, Real Madrid or Atletico Madrid stand as the next challenge en route to the Lisbon final, indicating there's plenty of work to do between now and the end of the season.

While Mourinho has made a career of walking a disciplinary tightrope, dropping controversial quotes and generally trying to maintain media focus away from his players, he needs to be on his best behaviour as the season concludes.

Mourinho will be disappointed to have been punished, but this incident is unlikely to distract the 51-year-old as he looks to end his opening campaign as returning Stamford Bridge boss with a trophy.