This is my biggest final yet, says Jose
Jose Mourinho has declared t hat t omorrow’s Capital one Cup showdown with Tottenham will be the most significant final of his career.
The Chelsea manager said that his determination to always look forward rather than back means that the Wembley clash will eclipse even his greatest european triumphs.
‘The most important game of my career is the next one,’ he maintained. ‘The others are in the club museum. My medals are somewhere at home, i don’t know where they are.
‘Do i look stupid? This cup final is the most important of my career, more important than the Champions League. More important than the other cups i’ve played before. i don’t think about the consequences, i just think about this game. We have a final to win on sunday. nothing else matters.’
Mourinho, still seething over the absence of nemanja Matic — banned for retaliating against Burnley’s Ashley Barnes — feels it is vital that the team he is building get used to winning on the big stage.
‘With people who have not had dozens of finals at Wembley, we will try to bring this generation — this new side — to make Wembley something normal in the sense that we’ll try to get there year after year.’
The Portuguese wouldn’t discuss harry Kane, refused to talk about any of Tottenham’s players — but still couldn’t resist trying to send a veiled message to Wembley referee Anthony Taylor (right).
Chelsea’s manager last season accused spurs defender Jan Vertonghen of diving and he clearly hasn’t forgotten that.
‘hopefully even the players who complicate things will try to make the final a big final,’ he said.
‘The players who dive looking for fouls, for cards. Players who — not week after week but almost every two or three matches — are simulating and pretending aggressions. You know the names.’
Meanwhile, Mourinho’s skipper, John Terry, yesterday highlighted the significance of Chelsea’s League Cup win back in 2005, when Mateja Kezman scrambled the winner and Mourinho told Liverpool’s fans to shush.
‘it set us on our way,’ said Terry, as he recalled his first trophy as captain, the first with Mourinho as manager and roman Abramovich as owner. ‘it gave us all a taste of what we wanted and we wanted more. it brought us closer together.’
Two months l ater, Chelsea clinched their first league title for half a century and have barely stopped winning since.
if they beat spurs tomorrow, it will be a dozen major prizes in a decade. The 21-month wait since the last one already represents quite a drought in Abramovich terms.
it would also be the launch pad for a second Mourinho era and a first Chelsea trophy for recent signings Matic, Cesc Fabregas, Juan Cuadrado, Filipe Luis, Thibaut Courtois and Diego Costa.
eden hazard was at the club when they won the europa League in 2013 but did not play in the Final, which means the bulk of the team has yet to experience winning something together. ‘We have got to go out and win trophies to put us r i ght up t here,’ s ai d Terry. ‘ This could be the first one for a few of the new players. it has been a couple of years since we won anything and it is an important competition.
‘People write this competition off but the manager takes it seriously and made it clear from the outset when we were away to the smaller clubs that we were in it to win it.
‘You can see that by the teams we’ve put out all the way through and the next step is to go and win it. For me, it’s huge. We look back on that 2004-05 season and it had a huge impact on our confidence.’
Didier Drogba, like Mourinho, has returned and i s preparing for Wembley as his 37th birthday looms, aware this trophy is as important as it was in his first season at the club.
‘That gave us a big boost,’ said the ivorian. ‘To know we could win something together if we all focused and really wanted to achieve something special was a big step for us. And winning it again would be a big step for this generation.’
Chelsea have lost only once in s even domestic f i nals s i nce Abramovich took control. The single defeat was against spurs in this competition in 2008.
‘it was a real disappointment,’ said Terry. ‘ But you move on. We’ve won major trophies since. sometimes it can have a positive impact because you don’t want to relive those bad memories.’
of more concern for Mourinho’s team may be the 5-3 defeat by Tottenham two months ago.
‘everyone is rattling on about that,’ Terry added. ‘ But for me it was fairly comfortable for us at the Bridge when we won 3-0 (in December). You get beat through the season. it’s not our only defeat. i don’t see it as a revenge thing.
‘They are here to win it. They have come a long way through the competition and some tough games. We’re here to win it and we have the squad to win it if we play well.
‘But if we are not at our best and Tottenham are, we have seen they are very good.’