Jose Mourinho took a leaf out of old sparring partner Arsene Wenger’s playbook by insisting he hadn’t seen the incident that should have resulted in a red card for Real Madrid midfielder Arda Guler last night.

Guler threw his elbow into the face of Sevilla midfielder Peque Fernandez midway through the first half of the clash at the Santiago Bernabeu.

Referee Mateo Busquets Ferrer did not see the coming-together while VAR Guillermo Cuadra Fernandez opted against taking any action.

To make matters worse for the visitors, Guler then opened the scoring with a lovely strike that paved the way for Madrid to cruise to a 4-1 win and move back within six points of leaders Barcelona ahead of next weekend’s Clasico.

I have not seen Guler elbow – Real Madrid boss Mourinho

Sevila were outraged with boss Luis García Plaza expressing his disappointment but Mourinho, who has reopened his crusade against Spanish referees since returning to Madrid over the summer, claimed not to have seen a good enough angle of the clash.

He said: ”No-one has managed to make me see what they say has happened. I don’t have the pictures and I haven’t been able to see it. I have asked for images from the TV and the analysts and I have not been able to see any image of the things they are talking about and that have bothered Sevilla. 

“I say it in all honesty. If one day something happens that I think has benefited us, I will not have any kind of problem going out and saying that but I think the opposite will happen to us many times because it is the natural trend of things. 

“If from here to the Clasico, there is any image, I would like to see it.”

Wenger became well known for claiming he did not see any incident that could have benefited Arsenal during his time in the Premier League. The Frenchman had a difficult relationship with Mourinho with the then Chelsea boss accusing of him being a “voyeur” and a “specialist in failure”.

The row boiled over in 2014 when they a physical confrontation during a game at Stamford Bridge.