Mourinho not afraid to speak out
Jose Mourinho’s truce with UEFA will not stop him speaking out against Europe’s governing body if he feels there is any injustice being shown to his side during the new Champions League campaign.
Last week UEFA were only to happy to grant the Portuguese coach a ‘clean slate’ when Mourinho offered the organisation an olive branch in a television interview.
But Mourinho, preparing for the visit of Anderlecht tomorrow, claims nothing would stop him from doing the same again if he felt there was anything strange he needed to address during any of their matches.
Mourinho was banned from the touchline for two games last season after UEFA accused club officials of lying over claims Barcelona coach Frank Rijkaard and Swedish referee Anders Frisk were in collusion at half-time during the first leg of their clash in the Nou Camp stadium.
The outcry following Mourinho’s comments sparked Frisk’s resignation after he and his family received death threats from irate Chelsea fans.
But even while undertaking his suspension over two legs against Bayern Munich, Mourinho managed to antagonise UEFA’S top brass by sparking a row over the possible use of a mobile phone to relay messages to assistant Rui Faria.
Mourinho also angered UEFA officials by persistently claiming Liverpool’s decisive goal in the semi-final at Anfield last season had not crossed the line and the referee’s assistant had gifted the Merseysiders a place in the final against AC Milan.
Mourinho declared: “I won’t hold back. What I did last season was the consequence of something. So, if the competition is absolutely normal without anything strange, I would love that and I would love to be a good boy and to behave well.
“But if something strange happens, I have to do what I have to do. But the good thing is that the last season is over – finished. I am not suspended and I have no regrets.
“I don’t look to people with bad eyes. I believe they look to me as one more manager or maybe not. Maybe they look at me as one of the privileged guys who had the Champions League in his hands.
“We can start from zero – tomorrow is a new competition for me. I have to forget what happened and try and win it”
While his insistence he would do the same again is almost certain to be viewed with apprehension by UEFA, his contentious remarks that the quality of football in the Champions League will be better than that on show at next summer’s World Cup, will have cheered them up no end.
Mourinho explained Europe’s top coaches reached the conclusion during a regular get together in Switzerland.
He said: “In the coach’s meeting we had in Geneva, we all believed that in terms of football, the best competition, the competition with more quality, is Champions League and not the World Cup.
“So everybody, not just me, arrived at that conclusion. The quality of the Champions League, especially in the last part of the competition, is the highest quality in modern football.
“That’s not a criticism, that’s absolutely normal. In clubs, when you feel you have a weakness, you try all around the world to get the correct player for that position or role. In national teams you have to stick with what you have.”
Chelsea will be playing their Belgian opponents for the first time in the history of the competition and Mourinho says the group is a ’dangerous one’ even though Anderlecht lost all six of their group games last season.
Mourinho still does not know whether influential midfielder Claude Makelele will be fit enough to shake off the thigh injury which forced him to miss their Barclays Premiership victory over Sunderland at the weekend.
But Mourinho confirmed Asier Del Horno is out of the game, leaving him with the prospect of no orthodox left-back.
Wayne Bridge is still not fully fit after breaking his ankle last season and the Chelsea coach is almost certain to play Paulo Ferreira at left-back and leave Geremi at right-back.
This will enable him to keep the central defensive pairing of William Gallas and John Terry against the Belgians.
Mourinho added: “It is a dangerous group. We need the three points to keep one step ahead. They will fight hard to be in the next stage. They are well organised but I think Chelsea has better players and a better team than Anderlecht.”
And he is as equally as single-minded when it comes to talking about Chelsea’s ambition this season.
“The reality is Chelsea have been to two consecutive Champions League semi-finals,” he said.
“We want to go to the next step and that’s to be in the final.”
