It is 14 years since the London club last played in Israel and, on that occasion, six members of the squad – Le Saux, Marcel Desailly, William Gallas, Albert Ferrer, Eidur Gudjohnsen and Emmanuel Petit – had opted out of the trip, many apparently under pressure from their families, and remained in England.
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And the Portuguese has urged his players to take all three points from tomorrow’s game at the Sammy Ofer Stadium.
“Jose Mourinho just can’t help himself, can he?” he said.
The Blues, who now have 33 players out on loan, have had many young players under contract in recent years, most of whom were out on loan and were eventually sold, and 34-year-old John Terry is the last academy graduate to win a regular place at Stamford Bridge.
“That incident has always summed him up, to me; he’s like the kid at school who watches a playground fight from a safe distance, then sidles up quickly to kick one of the fighters in the stomach when he’s sprawled on the floor”.
Everybody “just wanted to come” and nobody had any fears, Mourinho told a pre-match press conference on Monday. Mourinho said the midfielder had been given very good opportunities, and needed to meet him halfway.
“In this moment I see so many people speaking, especially about the clubs in trouble, it’s wonderful the lack of respect, the lack of ethics”. I enjoy my club winning matches. I don’t enjoy other people losing matches.
“These will be powered by new commercial deals, including our record-breaking partnership with Yokohama, and revenues related to this season’s Champions League which improve due to entering as Premier League champions and an increase in TV revenue for English clubs”.
“I like the confidence the team showed against Norwich. That’s why I’ve not smiled a lot in the last four or five months”.
Mourinho’s side face Maccabi Tel Aviv in their penultimate Group G fixture knowing a victory combined with a draw or defeat for Dynamo Kiev against Porto would guarantee their progress to the knockout stages.
“We are focused on what we have to do”, Mourinho added.
“We would have to rely on others”. They’ve lost all four of their games, scoring just once. I expect we will be more competitive in this match, however, and the aim is to win. Important for us, the result and the goal, but I think also for him.
He has struggled to emulate the form that inspired the Blues to a Premier League title-winning campaign along with the Capital One Cup triumph. I said to him: ‘Maybe we have to try something, to change something.
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Slavisa Jokanovic insists Maccabi Tel Aviv have nothing to lose ahead of tonight’s Champions League meeting with Chelsea. And we have to make sure that big team is not Chelsea. The Champions League, for us, is a competition where we’re not doing bad like we are in the Premier League.
