Jose Mourinho pleased after Chelsea progress at group winners

Mourinho was keen to point out that Leicester’s rise and his own team’s demise are two separate things. I should have brought in Diego Lopez after my first year.

Despite their poor domestic form, Mourinho believes Chelsea can still win the Champions League.

“The piece of luck we had with the first goal tonight we’ve never had in the Premier League”.

Jose Mourinho’s time at Real Madrid did not end very well, as the media reported that he had fallen out with a number of players.

An Ivan Marcano own goal and Willian’s strike were enough as the Premier League champions produced one of their most convincing performances of the season to avoid elimination to the Europa League and ease the pressure on their manager.

“I think everybody wants to play us”, he added. One thing is when one thing doesn’t work but when four or five players are not playing it is more hard.

Costa was fortunate to escape with just a yellow card when he deliberately tripped goalkeeper Iker Casillas during Chelsea’s 2-0 win over Porto on Wednesday, but the striker is adamant it was nothing serious.

Mourinho believes his Chelsea team could challenge for the Champions League this season despite their woeful form in the Premier League.

Either Paris St-Germain, Juventus, PSV Eindhoven, Benfica, Roma or Gent await.

“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.

While the victory over Porto saw Mourinho’s old club fall into third spot after Dynamo Kiev had leapfrogged them with their win over Maccabi Tel-Aviv, the Portuguese tactician would have undoubtedly been delighted with the fact that his side had progressed. Yes, clearly. But his attitude was very good and his movement was much better. When we won at Inter (Milan) in 2010, we were not candidates.

Costa was again dropped to the bench against Bournemouth last weekend and he failed to make an impact after coming on as a substitute in the second half, as Chelsea slumped to their eight league defeat at Stamford Bridge this season. When he did that he lost an important second and his last touch on the ball was not the best.