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Football

20th Feb 2017

Jose Mourinho absolutely loved this cheeky Blackburn mascot’s bit of referee banter

Can't blame a kid for trying

Darragh Murphy

Maybe this opportunistic young Blackburn Rovers fan actually managed to influence the match official.

A late Zlatan Ibrahimovic strike eliminated Blackburn from the FA Cup on Sunday but it was a valiant effort from the Championship side, who opened the scoring via a stunning Danny Graham strike.

Rovers put forward a spirited performance and gave everything in the hope of causing a cup upset and even the young mascots attempted to impact the result.

At half-time of the game, with the tie poised at 1-1, one of the kids kitted out in Rovers gear tried to have a word in the referee’s ear, as he didn’t want any of his beloved Blackburn players getting sent off and putting the underdogs’ chances in jeopardy.

“Don’t give yellows or reds to Rovers,” the cheeky lad said.

Manchester United manager Jose Mourinho absolutely loved the hopeful words of advice from the youngster as he burst into fits of laughter in the tunnel at half-time.

“Just give them to United,” he continued in the below video (skip to 3:17).

And while Ibrahimovic sealed the game for the Red Devils, the Rovers’ mascot did well as referee Martin Atkinson issued no yellow cards to Blackburn players in the second 45 while two Manchester United players picked up bookings.

If you don’t ask, you don’t get.