IN A SEISMIC WEEK THAT will define his club’s season, it was perhaps inevitable that José Mourinho should become embroiled in a row, but no one would have guessed it would be with Bryan Robson.

As Chelsea touched down in Barcelona last night, Mourinho took the extraordinary step of authorising a statement issued through the club’s communications department in which he blamed the West Bromwich Albion manager for Saturday’s bust-up at The Hawthorns.

Chelsea are expected to be issued with three disrepute charges by the FA today, two for misconduct and one for unsporting behaviour, but Mourinho believes that Robson’s demeanour on the touchline triggered the trouble. West Bromwich are also facing two misconduct charges for their manager’s various outbursts and the players confronting Mark Halsey, the referee, but that has not assuaged Mourinho’s anger.

He is furious at Robson’s behaviour, accusing him of insulting his coaching staff and swearing at Damien Duff, and gave his backing to a strongly worded statement. “We felt that Bryan Robson set the tone for much of this from the first minute,” the statement read. “He was insulting our players and bench virtually from the start. After 57 seconds he was out of the dugout accusing Duff of diving and shouting at the referee and that general trend continued.”

With Chelsea in a typically combative mood, Jim Sturman, the club’s disciplinary lawyer, can expect a busy few days. Chelsea have resolved to appeal against Arjen Robben’s sending-off against West Bromwich and will also contest the three FA charges. The misconduct charges relate to Mourinho’s overzealous celebration of Joe Cole’s goal and the players’ vigorous protest about Robben’s sending-off, which resulted in them surrounding Halsey, while the unsporting behaviour charge is a result of their late return to the field for the second half.

With Mourinho so exercised after a victory over West Bromwich, it is hard to imagine his reaction should Chelsea be knocked out of the Champions League by Barcelona tomorrow. Given the fallout from last year’s tie, Uefa is conscious that there could be further ructions, although Lars Christer-Olsson, the chief executive, resisted the urge to warn Mourinho to behave himself yesterday. “I don’t think I need to urge Mourinho to do anything before the tie because I think the club are taking care of it,” he said.

Mourinho will need to keep a cool head in the face of the intense provocation he will face tomorrow and his arrival yesterday did not go unnoticed. Chelsea’s players were greeted by jeers from a 50-strong crowd at the airport and several spat at Mourinho as he boarded the team coach.

Amid the controversy, Chelsea were boosted by Frank Lampard’s presence on the plane. The England midfield player trained on his own while his team-mates were dispensing with West Bromwich and, having made a good recovery from a torn hamstring, he is expected to start a match that Chelsea believe they can win.

“Everything is not lost,” Claude Makelele, the midfield player, said. “I know that many people will be thinking that our Champions League hopes have collapsed after the 2-1 defeat by Barcelona. I don’t agree with them. All of us at Chelsea believe we are capable of going to the Nou Camp and getting a result that will take us through. Why? Because we have an indestructible self- belief and we don’t think any task is beyond us.

“I am certain we will score and if we get a quick goal it will be fascinating to see how Barça respond. They can be vulnerable defensively and an early setback could cause them problems.”

Having stumbled through recent Premiership matches, Chelsea must raise their level of performance, with Joe Cole believing it will take their best performance of the season to reach the quarter-finals.

“We’ve got nothing to lose in Barcelona,” he said. “It’s going to have to be a magnificent performance, but if we put ourselves under that sort of pressure I’m sure we can respond. If we play like we did last year we should be OK.”