Jose’s warning shot to draw top boys
JOSE MOURINHO claims he is not bothered about who Tottenham get in the Champions League knockout draw today.
But he thinks even the biggest team in Europe will be keeping their fingers crossed that they are not paired with ‘The Special One’ and his new charges in Mourinho’s favourite competition.
He has already won the trophy twice – with Porto in 2004 and Inter Milan in 2010. Now, with last year’s beaten finalists Tottenham, he is looking to make it an unprecedented third success with different clubs.
Spurs cannot draw Premier League opposition at this stage, nor Bayern Munich, the team that beat them in the group stages.
It leaves them with Barcelona, Paris StGermain, Juventus, Valencia or RB Leipzig as potential last-16 opponents in today’s draw at UEFA headquarters in Nyon.
But the fact that Spurs only qualified in second place makes them, in Mourinho’s opinion, the team that all those group winners will want to avoid.
He said: “Every team that finished first has better options than Tottenham. They will be very happy to play in our stadium but they know we have a good team.
“What I’m saying is if I’m one of the five teams who can get us, I think they would prefer another draw.”
When “An easy trip to Real Madrid?” is suggested to Mourinho as an alternative he does a laugh.
Although Tottenham beat Real Madrid in the competition two years ago, he knows his side are perhaps not as hard to face as the Galacticos, given the difficult start to the season during which Tottenham axed manager Mauricio Pochettino.
But by the end of February, when the competition cranks into gear again, Mourinho hopes to have them drilled into shape with any highpitched psychological scars from losing the final in Madrid to Liverpool in June finally healed.
Even if, as he said on his unveiling, he finds it hard to feel sorry for players who have lost a Champions League Final – because he has never lost one.
After all, he was brought to White Hart Lane to turn Tottenham from runners-up into winners and you can guarantee he feels even the Champions League itself could once again be within his grasp.
Seeded group winners are away in the first legs and at home in the return matches. First legs on Feb 18, 19, 25, 26. Second legs on March 10, 11, 17, 18.