Pot kettle Blanc
Costa is a worry for Jose
JOSE MOURINHO warned his team to beware of the “divers” in Europe, the clever players from a “different culture” who will try to con penalties out of the referee. He was talking about Paris Saint- Germain, not Chelsea.
The two sides meet in the last 16 of the Champions League tonight, PSG having perished at the quarter- fi nal stage against Mourinho’s team last season in painful fashion – to a goal three minutes from time, going out on away goals.
Chelsea, the Premier League’s worst offenders for diving this season, will be bolstered by the return of striker Diego Costa following his three- game ban for stamping on Liverpool’s Emre Can. Beware the “divers”, the clever players who will try to con penalties out of the referee then, Jose.
To add to the tension, Paris SaintGermain manager Laurent Blanc believes Chelsea will try to wind up his players.
PSG are wobbling, their coach griping and his team bedevilled by injuries. Perhaps that is why Blanc was in a chippy, petulant mood last night, criticising his key striker Zlatan Ibrahimovic for taking off his shirt and getting booked on Saturday, wondering why he gets blamed for everything that is going wrong at the Parc des Princes – and second- guess Mourinho.
The former France coach said: “I know Jose Mourinho a bit and I know he’ll raise the temperature of the match. So my players need to be cold, calm, mustn’t react, even when it is hot out there on the turf. They must stay calm and cold. We can’t afford any more yellow cards.”
Mourinho , who will also have Cesc Fabregas back in his midfi eld , said: “In Europe, it is important to have experience. We go there and fi nd things you don’t fi nd in the Premier League.
“The style of refereeing is different, the fair play from the players is different and sometimes we get more of the guy that dives, the guy that tries to get clever penalties. Players with a different football culture.
“We are playing against a French team but we could be playing German, Portuguese or Spanish. They all have different cultures. The teams are made to be strong in their own leagues, so when they go to Europe they bring with them the qualities they develop week after week.” Blanc, who has Javier Pastore,
trying
to Lucas, Serge Au rier and Yohan Cabaye all out injured after the dismal 2- 2 draw with Caen on Saturday, added: “Last year, the key to the tie was that Chelsea scored the away goal here and we couldn’t at Stamford Bridge. The team who defend best will get the best result tonight and have the better chance to qualify.
“I’ll take the responsibility for the negativity around the Caen game. No problem. It was a catastrophe but every time something happens here, I’m held responsible. I’m disappointed that people think I might not be doing my all.”
To add to the intrigue, Mourinho again claimed he was offered the PSG job before Blanc. He said: “I know the PSG project well because, when they started with the owner, for the president and director of football Leonardo, I was to be the coach. I met them in Qatar. The project was to start dominating in France and then to dominate in Europe. But I was at Real Madrid and it was a real ambition for me to be champion in Spain because I wanted to be champion in Spain, England and Italy.”
Chelsea will be reunited with their former defender David Luiz, who was sold to Paris Saint- Germain in the summer for £ 50million following a string of performances in the Premier League that split opinion.
Luiz helped Chelsea to a Champions League quarter- fi nal victory over PSG before the move and was also on the scoresheet in Chelsea’s 3- 1 fi rst- leg loss last term – although it was an own- goal. He said last night: “Last year I scored my fi rst goal for PSG. If I score against Chelsea I won’t celebrate out of respect, but I will be happy.” And in his typically joker style, the Brazilian centre- back offered an interesting answer when asked to compare PSG boss Blanc and Chelsea’s Mourinho. “Both are
ugly,” he said. a hunger to play and the Champions League is a scenario that every player enjoys.”
Mourinho will also have key midfi elder Cesc Fabregas back after a hamstring injury – but he warned that just because his team beat PSG in the quarter- fi nals last year, it does not follow that a win is inevitable.
Mourinho said: “It was a knockout tie that was decided in the last minute, a small detail making the difference.
“I’m not saying we won because we were better than Paris. We won because we scored a goal away and didn’t concede at home.
“Paris are a great team, basically the same side as last season, with the addition of David Luiz. The same team basically, the same coach, the same dynamic, the same profi le.
“We have changed some players and the identity of our game. I don’t want to say if Chelsea are better or worse than last season but the Parc des Princes will see a different Chelsea to last year.”
Thiago Silva wishes he was playing with, rather than coming up against, Chelsea dangerman Eden Hazard tonight.
Hazard had been on PSG’s wanted list before the Belgian winger extended his Stamford Bridge stay.
PSG’s Brazilian defender Silva said: “He is not just good, he is very good.”