Real Madrid coach Jose Mourinho has admitted that he was wrong to poke Barcelona’s Tito Vilanova in the eye – one year after their infamous clash.

“I obviously should not have done what I did, obviously not,” the 49-year-old said in an interview this week with Fox Sports television.

“But I am not an idiot who does something without a story behind it that led me to lose control a bit,” the Portuguese added.

“I work a lot with my players on exactly that, on controlling emotions, on concentrating on playing and playing well. But there I failed and I am not looking for excuses. If I failed, I failed.”

Mourinho was banned for two matches for jabbing his finger into the eye of Vilanova in the final moments of Real Madrid’s Super Cup loss to Barcelona at the Nou Camp on August 17 last year.

As players from the rival teams scrapped on the field, Mourinho’s actions were caught on camera and the images have been replayed repeatedly in the media ever since.

Vilanova, who was Barcelona’s assistant coach at the time of the incident, was also barred for one match because he responded by slapping Mourinho on the back of the head.

Vilanova took over as coach this year after Pep Guardiola retired at the end of the season following four years at the helm.

Mourinho said relations with Vilanova had been repaired since.

“As Tito was saying a few weeks ago, the image will remain forever, the negative image is more important than any words,” he added.

“Between me and him there are no problems, we have greeted each other when we have met in games since then and that’s that. Story over. And we will try to ensure nothing similar happens.”