Blackburn Rovers have a dream, Chelsea have a nightmare and Jose Mourinho
knows both could become stunning reality in the next few days. Taking time
off from dealing with the endless speculation about his future to discuss
the enthralling climax to the season, Mourinho came up with a doomsday
scenario. Chelsea are in the hunt for an unprecedented clean sweep of all
four club honours, but their manager is determined to keep his “emotions in
check”, and accepts the dread possibility of losing the three major trophies
[Chelsea have already won the League Cup] over the next month.
First things first and, contemplating today’s FA Cup semi- final against
Blackburn at Old Trafford, Mourinho said: “We have been very serious from
the beginning about winning the Cup, and we showed our desire to do it when
we beat Tottenham in a replay [after being 3-1 down in the first game].
“We’re now one step from Wembley, and getting there means a lot to us, but for
them too. Perhaps even more. Our biggest threat is the dream they have. In
their group of players, not many have won trophies or played in finals. They
have Benni McCarthy [a European Cup winner with Mourinho’s Porto] and I
suppose Tugay won things in Turkey, but not many have had this chance. So
their motivation will be very high, it is their game of the season and
motivation sometimes makes miracles.”
Chelsea’s was immortality, as the first team to win the lot, but Mourinho is
in feet-on-the-floor mode and, looking ahead to the resumption of the title
race, at West Ham next Wednesday, he said: “If we lose there, or at
Newcastle [next Sunday], I think we could lose every game to the end.”
He doesn’t believe it is going to happen, of course, it is no more than a bad
dream. On the contrary, with Joe Cole available again and John Obi Mikel
emerging as a reinforcement of genuine substance, Mourinho contends that the
best is still to come from his players: “With everybody fit and together, I
think so.”
Even the self-styled “Special One” admitted he was “very tired and in need of
a rest” after the strenuous, if momentous, trip to Valencia in midweek, and
Mark Hughes, the Blackburn manager, said on Friday that they hoped to profit
from this European fatigue. Mourinho acknowledged that it could be a factor.
“Normally,” he said, “it is not easy in the next match after playing
a big game in Europe, but this is another big one — an occasion which should
stimulate our desire.”
Rovers will need all the advantages they can muster, Chelsea having beaten
them three times already this season [twice in the Premiership and in the
League Cup], scoring seven goals without conceding in the process. In the
past, Mourinho has found cause for complaint in Blackburn’s physical
approach, but it was not sosmething that concerned him on this occasion.
“We cannot think about that,” he said. “There is a referee there to analyse
what is within the laws of the game and what is outside them. To be fair,
we’ve played them three times this season with no problems like that.
They’ve been difficult matches, battles, but they have played correctly, and
in the three games I don’t remember a single incident. Blackburn can be
aggressive, but so are we.”
Pointing out, with a grin, that Hughes was one of 13 managers to have been
tipped to replace him next season, Mourinho added: “Mark played many semis
and FA Cup Ffinals and clearly he knows what a disgrace it is for a player
to get a red card in such a match. I think he’s a good manager in that
respect. He has a feeling and responsibility for the game in this country
and for the FA Cup. Like him, I want the semis and the final to be great for
the prestige of English football.”
There were name checks for all the usual suspects — Cech, Terry, Carvalho,
Lampard, Essien and Drogba, but Mourinho made special mention of young Mikel
who, in recent weeks, has emerged to rival the previously indispensable
Claude Makelele for the holding role in midfield. Just 19, the Nigerian had
disciplinary problems at the start of the season when, after repeatedly
turning up late for training, Mourinho had to warn him to improve his
attitude.
Mikel had done so, and was now held up as an exemplar. The manager said:
“Everybody at the club is doing a great job with him. I started that process
and the other players are finishing the job. He is mature on the pitch and
off it now. His evolution has been great in every respect. In football
terms, the biggest change is that he’s now a multi-functional player.
“When he came here [contentiously, from Lyn Oslo via Manchester United] he was
an attacking player. Now he can be the holding player. He plays in every
position in midfield and in every tactical system. He is very intelligent on
the pitch, amazingly so for one so young.
“He’s an exceptional talent. People speak about other young players in other
positions, like [Cristiano] Ronaldo and [Wayne] Rooney, but as a 19-year-old
midfield player playing as well as he is at the top level, I don’t see much
better.”
As is his wont when Mourinho is in the Mastermind chair, the conversation
broadened, leaving this afternoon’s events behind. He had been warned by his
employers not to talk about his future for fear of aggravating Mr Touchy,
aka Roman Abramovich, and the ever-present PR minder did his best to prevent
him from doing so, but to no avail.
Asking Jose not to talk is akin to stopping the tide. Did he perhaps talk too
much for his own good? With a what-can-I-do? shrug, he said: “If I could
choose, I wouldn’t speak [to the media], but I have contractual obligations
to come and talk to you. If others here did more of it, I wouldn’t have to
do it so much. So please, let them speak and give me some free time. It is
their choice.”
Was he suggesting the cloistered Abramovich ought to be more forthcoming?
Smiling, and still choosing his words carefully, Mourinho said: “In the same
way that I take the pressure off my players by speaking more than them, if
the people on top here would say more, it would be better for me. Easier for
me.”
That was mealy-mouthed for some tastes. Was he still at odds with Abramovich
or not, and was he staying or going at the end of the season? “I have made
everything clear — at least the part that is in my hands”,” he said. “I have
said 200 times I want to stay and see out my contract with Chelsea, and the
supporters have to believe that. If at the end of the season I leave the
club, you have the right to come to me and say: ‘Jose, f*** off, you’re a
liar’.”
Fair enough, but did Abramovich want him to stay and had he told him so?
Mourinho’s silence said it all. No, he hadn’t. Anxious not to exacerbate the
rift between them, Mourinho broke the pregnant pause by offering: “I told
Peter Kenyon [the chief executive] I want to stay and that I wouldn’t be
speaking to any other clubs. I’ve told my agent [Jorge Mendes] that he’s
forbidden to speak to other clubs. I cannot do more than that.
“Peter told me:, “‘I’m very happy with your decision, it’s fantastic news’.”
“I think we have the best football in England and I’m not interested in Real
Madrid, or going anywhere else. I have said that I want to honour my
contract with Chelsea, and I’m not a liar.”
The speculation had been an unwanted distraction for his players, who had done
remarkably well not to let it affect their results up to now.
“Every new speculation is another crack, just like a defeat would be, and
another one could break us”, Mourinho warned. “What is keeping our dream
alive is the great professionalism and human qualities shown by my special
group of players.
“If we lose against West Ham or Newcastle we could lose every game to the end,
but at this moment I think we can keep winingto the end. Yes, I do believe
it is possible to win all four trophies.”
In which event, even the reluctant Roman might have to say “Well done” —
probably through gritted teeth.
