Mourinho Reveals Three Off-Form Chelsea Stars

The 27-year-old, who joined the Blues from Atletico for £32m in July 2014, scored 21 goals for Chelsea last season, but has looked far from the same player this campaign. This was especially highlighted in Chelsea FC’s away match at Tottenham Hotspur, when striker Diego Costa hurled his training bib at Mourinho after realising that he would not be brought on from the bench.

“If you go player-by-player, last season – Branislav Ivanovic, Gary Cahill, John Terry – you could say were fantastic”.

Mourinho returned to Chelsea in 2013 after a three year stay at Chelsea and has won the League and Cup title (both in the 2014/2015 season).

“Atletico is a great club, Madrid is a great city, La Liga is a very good league, so why not a player 28 years old [sic: Costa is 27] not to think that in football it’s possible to be back?” He also said that in recent years it has become too easy for overseas managers to find work in the Premier League even without such an impressive CV.

Mourinho, who replaced Ranieri in his first stint at Chelsea in 2004, said the Italian had plenty to be happy about heading into the clash.

Mourinho is famous for playing mind-games in the media and this could yet be another ploy by the wily Portuguese to rile-up his key players to make them step up to the plate.

“The Premier League was quite a closed space for foreign managers, and to come here was not easy. Yes, I speak against myself but I think it’s true”.

‘Some people say that – and it’s true because something changed in the last decade – that it’s a bit of an effect of what happened with me, ‘ Mourinho said.