ITV have defended the decision to cut short an interview with Real Madrid coach Jose Mourinho last night.

Mourinho appeared on the verge of revealing he will be at Chelsea next season in an interview with Gabriel Clarke, following his side's Champions League semi-final exit against Borussia Dortmund, before it was cut.

An ITV spokesman told the Daily Mail: "Our reporter, Gabriel Clarke, and the team managed to land an unexpected interview with Jose Mourinho with only two minutes or so left before the end of last night's programme.

Unfortunately, at that point it was too late to arrange an overrun of the broadcast beyond the allotted time. However, in a tight, live situation, we decided to show as much as we could of their exchange to viewers."

ITV said the cost of advertising is very complex to work out but according to their website it costs between £51,320-£60,390 to broadcast a 30-second advert during their primetime evening shows, meaning it would have cost them upwards of £500,000 if they decided to cut the adverts and run a longer Mourinho interview.

Interviewer Clarke had asked: "Maybe next season with Real?", to which Mourinho said: "Maybe not... I want to be where people love me."

Clarke responded with: "We'll take that as England, we've got to go."