Equation is simple for Jose

Forget Jose Mourinho’s reverse psychology when he writes off Chelsea’s chances of winning the Premier League — this is the Champions League and his message is clear: “We can win.”

The Blues will go into tonight’s quarter-final against Paris St-Germain trailing 3-1 from the first leg last week. But Mourinho has no doubt his side have the capability to reach the last four.

“If you ask me, I think we are going to win,” he said last night.

“In the end of the two legs, I think we are going to score more goals than them. I think in the end it can be 4-3 or 5-4.

“If I don’t think that way I don’t go tomorrow. And I go and I’m happy to go.”

His confidence may not be misplaced.

Two years ago Chelsea clawed back a 3-1 deficit against Napoli on their way to winning the Champions League, albeit only once Roberto Di Matteo had replaced the hapless Andre Villas-Boas as manager.

But it was Mourinho in charge when the Blues overturned a 2-1 first-leg defeat to beat the mighty Barcelona in 2005 by a 4-2 margin, and he believes they can do it again.

“The reasons to believe are not important. The importance is the belief. I believe and my players believe. That’s the most important thing. To give you the reasons I don’t think is the most important thing.

“PSG can say they come to attack and maybe they don’t cross the midfield line.

“The only thing I know is that if we don’t score a minimum of two goals we have no chance.

“The basic thing of the numbers, the basic mathematics.”

But Mourinho also knows nothing in life is predictable, least of all football at this level.

“It is one thing to speak of the game, another thing to play the match. I have had something like 115 or 120 matches in the Champions League and I still can’t say how the game is going to be.”

Mourinho confirmed that striker Samuel Eto’o is a major doubt, and even though PSG are missing talisman Zlatan Ibrahimovic with a hamstring injury, he still believes the away team have a strong squad.

“I think the players play, not the club experience,” Mourinho said, reacting to the statistic that PSG have never progressed to the semi-finals of the competition.

“So how many times Thiago Silva, Thiago Motta, Maxwell, Cavani, all of them, they play big matches in their leagues and Champions League? Lots of times. The fact that Paris has no tradition in this competition at this moment I don’t think it plays a role.”

“The fact that a multi-millionaire club that buys players and players and players doesn’t play one important player like Ibrahimovic I don’t think is a problem.”

Mourinho, a two-time Champions League winner, underlined his virtually blemish-free track record in the competition, as another reason why he believes Chelsea will progress.

“I won two finals, so the two finals are the most important memories, good memories I have. I lost semi-finals and when you lose semi-finals you are almost there. Semi-finals are the biggest disappointment. I was never knocked out in the group phase which is good for me and my clubs. I still consider the two nights of both finals the most memorable.”