Jose Mourinho downplays row with Diego Costa after Chelsea’s win against

Mourinho was first appointed Chelsea boss in 2004 after his Porto side had defied the odds to win the Champions League, and he won the competition again with Inter Milan in 2010, when Barcelona and Real Madrid were the preseason favourites.

But the Blues then stamped their authority on the game and Cesar Azpilicueta fired over after exchanging passes with Oscar before Cahill put them ahead.

The 21-year-old left-back reclaimed the starting spot from Serb defender Branislav Ivanovic and played the entire minutes of the game, impressing manager Jose Mourinho as his Chelsea side took command of Group G. We are not satisfied that we have no points. We really needed to win this match.

Jose Mourinho played down the on-pitch argument with Diego Costa after the pair were seen to be exchanging views in the 4-0 win at Maccabi Tel Aviv.

Europe has offered Chelsea some respite during their poor start to the season.

“He gets tied down, defensively he has to track back”. I didn’t hear a single problem inside of the squad.

Mourinho took matters into his own hands after Gary Cahill’s opening goal, walking on to the pitch to replace loose divots but he does not rate his groundsman skills as he joked: “I think after what I did, it was worse”.

“In this moment we are in a good position”. I won with Porto and with Inter when we were far from favourites.

The hosts are aware of Chelsea’s leaky defence as they have kept only one clean sheet in the last six matches.

“In the first half I could feel only the bad pitch stopped us from playing even better when we reached the last third”, he said.

Following Tuesday’s key tie, the Blues return to London and a hard trip to arch rivals Tottenham on Sunday before matches against Bournemouth, Porto, Leicester, Sunderland, Watford and Manchester United to finish the year. “I’m not thinking this will be a game like at Stamford Bridge”.

Mourinho said: “The best way is to focus on football and the happiness it gives you”.

“The game is a lot more important for us than Maccabi”, he explained.