Mourinho makes Champions League his prime target
Jose Mourinho has signalled a further improvement in his
relationship with Roman Abramovich by identifying success in the
Champions League rather than the Premiership as Chelsea's priority
for next season.
Despite having won every achievable domestic trophy during his
three seasons at Stamford Bridge, Mourinho has yet to mastermind
the sort of dominance in Europe which Abramovich, Chelsea's owner,
is understood to crave.
Mourinho has previously suggested he regards the Premiership as the
greatest test and, although he will not change his style and
philosophy, there are signs of a shift in priorities.
"Winning is a habit, winning is culture, winning has a lot of
mental preparation and I am very happy with it here," he said. "I
just feel the last step is to take this feeling, or this little bit
of luck, to European competition. Chelsea played three Champions
League semi-finals in the last four years, which is fantastic, but
couldn't play one single final.
"This club wants more and we want more. I won it before but past is
past, I want to do it with Chelsea. The players, they want to do it
but we have to do it without being obsessed because being obsessed
doesn't help."
Chelsea will be assisted next season by being among the top eight
seeds, meaning they will avoid any of Europe's "super-powers" in
the group stage.
Mourinho believes the fixture schedule and injuries impacted on his
side's defeat by Liverpool on penalties in the Champions League
semi-final this month. He is adamant, however, that he does not
want a significantly larger squad and is unlikely to start next
season with a radically changed team. He feels small details can
make the difference.
"We have to understand the game," he said. "Understanding the game
is two or three minutes to go we score against Man United and win
the FA Cup. Against Liverpool we couldn't score two penalties in
three shots and details make the difference. We must just keep
doing our work and trying to improve and for sure next season we
will improve because I don't believe in the same kind of season in
medical terms."
Milan's coach, Carlo Ancelotti, meanwhile, has been quoted as
saying he does not expect Chelsea to allow Andriy Shevchenko to
return to San Siro for next season.
