Mourinho happy taking the flak and turns his guns on Wenger
Jose Mourinho last night goaded Arsène Wenger with a barb about their respective Champions League records. While preparing to face his former club Porto in tonight's Champions League second-round tie, the Chelsea manager was invited to evaluate how he might be judged if he fails to win the competition this season. His response was to underline that his curriculum vitae, its principal accomplishment achieved with tonight's hosts in 2004 while he was their manager, already surpasses that of many of his rivals at the top European clubs.
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"I have no idea how I will be judged," the Portuguese manager said, noting that before that particular question he had been enjoying a "calm and easy" press conference. "It is a difficult question because I don't know how to answer it. If you judge me, you have to judge every Champions League manager who has not won it because I have won it once.
"Many managers in the world have not done it. You have a big example not far down the road [from Chelsea]. Arsène Wenger is a big manager in the world of football but he never did it. When I did it once I could thank God for that because I had that privilege. Three years ago nobody believed in February that Porto could be champions and Porto were champions."
Arsenal, who play Chelsea in the Carling Cup final on Sunday, were last year's runners-up in the Champions League and Wenger has failed in three European finals as a manager, also losing the 2000 Uefa Cup final on penalties to Galatasaray with Arsenal and the 1992 Cup Winners' Cup final while at Monaco.
But though Mourinho's comments might be true it is the fact that he and Wenger appear to have renewed hostilities after almost a year of relative calm in their relationship that is most intriguing. The Arsenal manager pointed on Monday to what he considers to be the injustice of the financial situation at Stamford Bridge that permits them to absorb £80m losses.
That might be interpreted as a bald attempt to increase the psychological pressure on his Chelsea counterpart, but Mourinho fought back. "I have pressure, imagine other managers in the world," he said. "I have ambition and ambition is important; feeling you can do it is important and having the desire, to want to win it is important.
"I feel no pressure at all. I felt more at Porto but I have already won the Champions League once. I feel very proud and I have nothing to prove. We want to win and will try to win, but I feel no pressure at all."
That sentiment was endorsed by one of his most trusted players last night. The holding midfielder Claude Makelele, who turned 34 on Sunday, insists that Mourinho is adept at shielding his players from unsettling influences, something that the France international believes will provide a platform to win two trophies this season. "We know that Jose had big pressure from the club but he was tremendous because he didn't show anything to us," said Makelele. "He was always the same. He took the pressure only on himself because he didn't want the players to be disturbed by the situation. Now I am confident that everything is fine. I hope to win the Champions League and the Premiership; six points is nothing at this stage of the season."
Mourinho knows that the obituaries are already being written about his Chelsea career following his dispute with the club's owner Roman Abramovich. Clearly the news has reached the confines of the Estadio do Dragao, where Lucho Gonzalez highlighted Mourinho's predicament.
"Mourinho is in a life-and-death situation if he loses another Champions League," said the Porto and Argentina midfielder. "So we know they will come with all their power and motivation, but Porto are playing samba football and we are having a great run. We have to win. As I see it, it is a match that will prove decisive for many people; it could decide the future of all involved."