Chelsea? It’s just another day at the office for Jose
Jose Mourinho has a stinging riposte for those Chelsea fans who used to idolise him – beating Liverpool means more than beating Chelsea.
Today, Mourinho will face his former club for the fifth time as Manchester United manager since leaving Stamford Bridge for a second time in December 2015.
But rather than any kind of retribution against his former club, or desire to get one over on current Chelsea boss Antonio Conte after their recent war of words, the Portuguese will view today’s encounter as just another day at the office.
Instead, the visit of Liverpool to Old Trafford on March 10 is the one that will really get the heart pounding.
“This is a normal game,” he says. “Everyone knows that the most important thing is not me.
“Probably playing Liverpool in two weeks means more for my club because to play Liverpool has a special meaning.
“That is the way I have to look at things. I don’t have any bad feeling in relation to Chelsea to say, ‘ I’m going to prove this and that against my former club’. I’m not going to prove anything.
“In fact every club I left – by my decision or by the board – I have very good feelings towards them.
“I ‘ ve never played against Inter Milan since I left, but I’ve faced Porto, Real Madrid and Chelsea and the feeling is a good one. It’s a special thing.
“The Liverpool game is not more important. It is still three points. But the feeling for the fans, that extra little adrenaline is not about Chelsea, it is more about Liverpool.”
Mour inho has lost three of his four matches as United boss, but the one victory he did secure was a 2- 0 success at Old Trafford last April.
It didn’t stop Chelsea’s march to the League title, or help his team make the top four. But it was a Mourinho masterclass as Ander Herrera manmarked Eden Hazard out of the game in one of United’s best displays under his direction.
“It was a special game as we were also trying to win the Europa League,” he reflects. “We had lots of matches and lots of tired players and I chose to rest some players.
“With so many changes we had to go for a certain strategy and with the players we had available, Ander’s job on Eden Hazard was important.
“He did an amazing job but there are different matches, circumstances, different players.
“In that game Hazard was playing with Diego Costa as the No. 9.
“In this match I don’t know what they will do, but in their last game against Barcelona, Hazard was Chelsea’s most-offensive player.”