JOHN Barnes is one of the few former professionals to defend namesake Ashley following his collision with Nemanja Matic on Saturday.

The 25-year-old striker won’t face retrospective action for the incident, which led to Matic being sent-off for his reaction, because referee Martin Atkinson saw the incident.

And former Liverpool and England ace Barnes has sympathy with the Burnley striker.

“Jose Mourinho has gone a bit over the top a bit about Ashley Barnes,” he told talkSPORT.

“I have a little bit of sympathy with Ashley Barnes.

“It wasn’t even a tackle. He was going to pass the ball to the full back. He’s followed through and caught him.

“It looked worse than it actually was. I don’t think you should be attacking players (like that).

“Referees are not against Chelsea, they make mistakes. Jose’s gone a bit over the top.”

Mourinho appeared on Goals on Sunday and suggested Barnes should receive a six-game ban for the incident, labelling it as ‘criminal’.

Match of the Day anchor Gary Lineker was one of several ex-pros to either criticise Barnes or express surprise at the decision not to charge him.

He tweeted: “So Martin Atkinson did see Ashley Barnes’ tackle on Matic. Wow!”

Ex-Crystal Palace striker Mark Bright said: “If Martin Atkinson saw the Ashley Barnes challenge and thought it wasn’t worthy of a red card, then football is in grave danger.”