Mourinho happy to find salvation in Europe
London - Jose Mourinho hopes Chelsea's
progress to the Champions League last 16 will
restore his side's shattered confidence and help
save his job.
Mourinho was on the brink of being sacked until
Chelsea avoided elimination from Europe's elite
club competition with a 2-0 win over Porto at
Stamford Bridge on Wednesday.
Needing a draw to ensure they made it to the
knockout stages, Chelsea got a timely piece of
good fortune through Ivan Marcano's early own
goal before Willian's second half strike
completed a victory that lifted the west
Londoners to the top of Group G and eased the
pressure on Mourinho.
The sight of Chelsea owner Roman Abramovich
grinning and exchanging high-fives with his
entourage afer Willian's goal suggested Mourinho
has bought himself a little time to get the
Premier League champions back on track.
And the beleaguered Blues boss took heart from
the way his players, reportedly mutinous at times
during a dismal campaign, responded to the
prospect of having to fight to spare him from
Abramovich's axe.
"The thing that I'm more happy with apart from
the result is the players accepted the challenge
of playing to win, even though we only needed a
draw," Mourinho said.
"That is not so easy when the pressure is so
high and the results are bad in this difficult
period.
"Being in the Champions League is very
important. Being here is the minimum we can
give to our supporters.
"The results are not as good as the way we are
working every day, but after our first goal we
were more relaxed and confident."
With Chelsea's domestic form so poor, Mourinho
conceded there is only an outside chance they
could qualify for next season's Champions
League via a top four finish.
That makes winning the Champions League the
more likely route back into the competition and,
in a transparent bid to take the pressure off his
team, Mourinho labelled the Blues as also-rans
who would be the preferred choice of all their
potential opponents in Monday's last 16 draw.
Chelsea will face Paris Saint Germain, PSV
Eindhoven, Juventus, Roma, Benfica or Gent and
Mourinho said: "A team that is struggling like us
is obviously not a candidate to win the
Champions League.
"The best teams in Europe are in the Champions
League. But when we won with Porto in 2004 we
were not candidates and when we won with Inter
Milan in 2010 we were not candidates.
"When we were candidates with Real Madrid we
lost two semi-finals and the same with Chelsea,
so you never know.
"I think everybody wants to play us. Everyone
team that finished second doesn't want to play
Barcelona, Bayern or Real Madrid.
"They want to get us because they think we are
the weakest."
With Chelsea languishing just above the Premier
League relegation zone and facing a trip to
leaders Leicester next, Mourinho isn't out of the
woods yet.
If Chelsea are to piece together the kind of
winning run that would convince Abramovich not
to sack him, Mourinho must get more from Diego
Costa, the misfiring Spain striker who played a
key role in the opening goal against Porto but
generally looked desperately short of confidence.
"It is clear (Costa is struggling for confidence),
but it is also clear to see his effort, commitment
and great movement which he didn't have in the
last couple of months," Mourinho said.
"Yes there is a lack of confidence clearly, but
not a lack of effort."
Despite having condemned his former club to the
Europa League, Mourinho still earned a vote of
confidence from Porto manager Julen Lopetegui.
"Mourinho is one of the best coaches in history.
I'm sure he's the right man to continue here at
Chelsea," he said.
"I'm sad about the result but we were against a
strong team. We had three or four good chances
but there were some unlucky situations that
changed the result completely."
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