Jose Mourinho
Jose Mourinho, the renowned football manager, has made a return to Stamford Bridge, but this time as the head coach of Benfica. Nearly a decade after his second departure from Chelsea, Mourinho is set to face his former club in the Champions League league phase. The match, scheduled for Tuesday evening, promises to be a significant encounter as Mourinho’s Benfica takes on the Blues.
Jose Mourinho said: “I am not a blue anymore. I am red and I want to win. Of course, I will always be a blue. I’m part of their history, and they are part of mine. When I say I’m not a blue, I’m talking about the job I have to do tomorrow. There is a fear in many clubs about what happened in the past. Sometimes it looks like they want to delete people who made history in the clubs. This shows Chelsea are a big club.”
Mourinho expressed his admiration for the work done by Enzo Maresca at Chelsea over the past year. Despite not being familiar with the club’s current model, Mourinho acknowledged the positive changes under Maresca’s leadership.
Jose Mourinho said: “Honestly, I don’t know the model. I never studied their model. There was a set period where myself, from the outside, was putting some question marks [on it] because it looked like Chelsea had lost their identity as a club. But what happened in the last season got things back on track. They gave trust to Enzo and gave his ideas.”
Enzo Maresca, Chelsea’s current manager, remains confident despite recent criticism following the team’s loss to Brighton. The Chelsea board has shown faith in Maresca, dismissing any rumors of his dismissal and considering the reaction to the club’s start to the season as exaggerated.
Enzo Maresca said: “So for sure we like winning games, there is no doubt. But also the reality is that there is not any pressure. The pressure we have is the pressure that we know that being at Chelsea as a player, as a manager you need to win games, no doubt. But at the same moment the reality is that for different reasons, injuries and red cards, we lost five games in almost six months. But at the same time I think it’s something not bad.”
Maresca is hopeful that key players Joao Pedro, Andrey Santos, and Moises Caicedo will be fit for the upcoming European match. While Santos was absent from open training on Monday, Joao Pedro and Caicedo participated in the session. However, Chelsea will be without several players due to injuries, including Cole Palmer, Wesley Fofana, Tosin Adarabioyo, Liam Delap, Dario Essugo, and Levi Colwill.
As Mourinho prepares to face his former club, the match promises to be an exciting clash between two teams with rich histories in European football. Chelsea will aim to secure a victory against Benfica and continue their positive trajectory under Maresca’s guidance.
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