BURNLEY should find out today whether Ashley Barnes will face retrospective action from the FA for the incident which led to Nemanja Matic being sent-off at Stamford Bridge.

Barnes’ team-mates have leapt to his defence following the coming together 70 minutes into Saturday’s game.

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But Jose Mourinho yesterday called for the 25-year-old to be banned for six games in a bizarre rant in which he described Barnes tackle as ‘criminal’.

The Burnley striker had just passed the ball when his follow through collided with the Serbian’s leg studs first. Referee Martin Atkinson, who had a clear view of the incident, didn’t even give a free-kick.

Matic reacted furiously to the collision, pushing Barnes over, and earning himself a red card before Burnley levelled nine minutes from the end through Ben Mee.

Michael Keane said he had spoken to Barnes after the game and he had not meant to catch Matic.

“I spoke to Barnesy and he said whatever he did was an accident, he didn’t mean it at all,” said Keane.

“Obviously Matic has retaliated and it was a definite red card.”

Michael Kightly, who was one of the closest players to the incident, also jumped to the defence of Barnes.

"Their players were saying to me he had been doing it the whole game but Ash is not a nasty person,” he said. “He competes. If you can’t compete what can you do.

"It’s a part of his game that he is very good at. He gets hold of the ball and he’s effective but he’s not a dirty player in any way.

"For me I didn’t see anything wrong but obviously from their point of view, they’ll be disappointed that he (Matic) reacted like that."

Mourinho was critical of the referee after the game, but when he appeared on Goals on Sunday on Sky Sports yesterday morning he turned his attention to Barnes, including referencing a seven-game ban he had while at Brighton for an incident when he was found guilty of attempting to trip a referee.

The latest change to the FA’s rulebook on ‘not seen incidents’ allowed retrospective action to be brought for acts of violent conduct that occur secondarily to a challenge for the ball’, although Atkinson’s view of the whole incident was unobstructed.