The last time Jose Mourinho ventured
into egg territory, he found out Roman Abramovich was an over-easy kind
of guy. Mourinho complained about the eggs and Abramovich told him it
was over. Easy.
Turned out the Russian liked his managerial relationships the way he liked his eggs.
Six
years and seven managers later, Mourinho is back where it all ended, at
the start of a Champions League campaign. This time with no complaints
about the quality of his stock.
Mother hen: Jose Mourinho said he had to nurture his 'young, beautiful' 'eggs'
All smiles: It is an echo of what he said in his last reign under Roman Abramovich
Shaking it off: Mourinho sort out his umbrella after the Chelsea press conference
Man with a plan: Mourinho put his 'eggs' through their paces ahead of the Champions League clash with Basle
‘Beautiful, young eggs,’ clucked the
Chelsea manager, quick to embrace the role of Mother Hen and remind
everyone that this young team does not yet compare in stature to the
one he left behind in 2007. Wednesday night's team will include four players
aged 22 and under.
‘They are eggs that need a mum or, in
this case, a dad to take care of them, to keep them warm during the
winter, to bring the blanket and work and improve them,’ added Mourinho.
‘One day the moment will arrive when
the weather changes, the sun rises, you break the eggs and the eggs are
ready to go for life at the top level.’ The Eggsceptional One smiled,
pleased with himself, and his audience chuckled approvingly. Wednesday is
six years to the day since the final game of his first spell at Chelsea,
a 1-1 draw at home against Rosenborg.
Stamford Bridge was far from full to capacity on that night and his team, having surrendered their grip on the Barclays Premier League title, were under increasing fire for lacking flair.
Spring chicken: Key player Eden Hazard, in training ahead of Wednesday's clash, is still 22
Hair today: David Luiz (left) and new signing Willian prepare for the Blues' first Champions League match
Fighting fit: Fernando Torres (centre), and his Chelsea team-mates are looking to kick-start their season
Behind the scenes, friction had
developed between him and Abramovich about the club’s transfer targets
and it reached its critical point as Chelsea prepared another assault on
Europe.
‘It’s all about omelettes and eggs,’
said Mourinho on the eve of the Rosenborg game. ‘You have eggs Class
One, Class Two and Class Three. Some are more expensive than others and
some give you better omelettes. So when the Class One eggs are in
Waitrose and you cannot go there, you have a problem.’
Mourinho was ousted despite winning
five major trophies in three years and the team, under the guidance of
Avram Grant, went on to reach the Champions League final where they were
beaten on penalties by Manchester United.
Since then, Chelsea have won it
without him. Mourinho, having first won it with Porto, has won it again
with Inter Milan and now they are back together, owner and manager
having made up.
THE BEST OF MOURINHO
'Please don’t call me arrogant, but I’m European champion and I think I’m a special one.'
Mourinho at his Chelsea unveiling in 2004, leading to a long-surviving nickname...
'The dog is fine in Portugal - that big threat is away - you don’t have to worry about crime any more'
After the police questioned him over whether his dog had a pet passport...
'Wenger
has a real problem with us and I think he is what you call in England a
voyeur. He is someone who likes to watch other people.
'There
are some guys who, when they are at home, have this big telescope to
look into the homes of other people and see what is happening. Wenger
must be one of them - and it is a sickness'
Taunting Arsene Wenger for talking about the Blues...
‘If
Roman Abramovich helped me out in training we would be bottom of the
league and if I had to work in his world of big business, we would be
bankrupt!’
Describing his relationship with Chelsea's owner...
'No eggs, no omelette. And it depends on the quality of the eggs. In
the supermarket, you have eggs class one, class two, class three.
'Some
are more expensive than others and some give you better omelettes. So
when the class one eggs are in Waitrose and you cannot go there, you
have a problem'
The original 'eggs' rant after the Rosenborg game...
Stretching out: Mourinho watches his players train in preparation for the match
Pushing for a place: Juan Mata (left) and Demba Ba walk out for training at the club's Cobham complex
Chelsea start at home to Basle tonight
searching for a European win against the Swiss champions to lift
spirits after five points dropped from the last two Premier League
games.
Mourinho’s destiny has been entwined
with this competition ever since Manchester United goalkeeper Tim Howard
failed to hold a free-kick from Porto’s Benni McCarthy and Costinha
pounced in the last minute of their first knockout round tie.
United, until that point going through
on away goals, crashed out, Porto went on to win the title and Chelsea
poached Mourinho. The goal spun the tie upside down and may have jolted
football from its previous trajectory.
What of the Mourinho story if Howard
had fielded McCarthy’s shot comfortably as he should have? Instead, a
legend was fuelled by European adventures from Anders Frisk and the
‘enemy of football’ to the laundry skip and Rui Faria’s woolly hat to
Luis Garcia’s ‘ghost goal’ and a feud with Rafa Benitez, which still
echoed around Stamford Bridge last season.
Scrambled: Mourinho complained about his 'eggs'
after his last match in his first spell at Chelsea, a 1-1 Champions
League draw with Rosenborg, with John Terry (left) battling Yssouf Kone
Mourinho accused Lionel Messi of
acting, which enraged Barcelona fans to the point where they spat at
Chelsea’s team bus, thus casting him as a Real Madrid manager, although
he was unable to acquire for them the landmark 10th European title. His
Real team was foiled three times in the semi-final, twice on penalties.
‘108 Champions League matches is a lot
of matches and in quite a short period of time,’ said Mourinho. ‘So
that means my relationship with the competition is not so bad.
‘Winning the competition twice, when I
think we are only three or four who have managed to do that, means also
something. But I felt during these 108 matches that many strange things
happened. I have to believe it is just football, no more than
football.’
This is a flick at the ear of UEFA. He
is convinced they are anti-him, or at least pro-Barcelona. It remains
hard for Mourinho to resist an anti-establishment remark here and there,
although he managed to avoid comment on the choice of referee on Wednesday night.
Dangerous opponents: Basel knocked Manchester United out of the group stages two years ago
Ambitious: Roman Abramovich likes his 'eggs' in the knockout stage of the Champions League
Daniele Orsato twice sent Mourinho
from the touchline during his time in Italy when the Inter Milan coach
became embroiled in a lengthy dispute with the Italian FA.
‘I have to focus not in the past, but
in the future,’ said Mourinho. ‘There is no obsession for me, no
obsession for Chelsea but I want to win it for a third time. I want
Chelsea to win it for a second time. This is the beginning of a process.
‘Last season, Chelsea went out of its
natural habitat and into a competition that is not a Chelsea
competition. We don’t want to do that again. We don’t want to play
Europa League.
‘We want the Champions League and when
you start the group phase with a victory, normally it’s a good step in
the direction of qualifying. It doesn’t mean you qualify but it’s a big
step.’
At least this time there is no confusion about how Abramovich likes his eggs. He likes them in the
knockout stage of the Champions League.
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