Mourinho relishing Blues reunion

JOSE MOURINHO admits his former employers Chelsea will not fear his Inter side ahead of their Champions League last-16 meeting next year.

However he insisted that is because they have been a “winning group since 2004’’– the year he took charge at the London club.

Having won two Premier League titles in his three season prior to being sacked in September 2007 Mourinho is sure to get a good reception from Chelsea supporters when he returns to Stamford Bridge for the second leg on 16 March.

“I exclude the possibility that they (Chelsea) are afraid of Inter because they are a winning group who have played together since 2004,’’ Mourinho said.

“I won’t need to study them. With the addition of (Branislav) Ivanovic and (Nicolas) Anelka, they are my old team.

Chelsea goalkeeper Petr Cech, meanwhile, is confident his side can win the Champions League this season.

The Blues were knocked out in dramatic fashion by Barcelona in the semi-finals of last year’s competition, thanks to a late goal from Andres Iniesta.

The year before and it was more heartbreak, this time Chelsea were beaten on penalties in the final against Manchester United in Moscow.

Chelsea have never won the Champions League but this season Cech believes they can go all the way.

“We are craving for Premier League crown this season and I hope we will manage that,” he said. “At the same time, I believe that we will do well on the Champions League scene.

“Our team has the potential to win the most prestigious European club trophy finally.”

Chelsea’s form has been somewhat patchy of late but midfield Frank Lampard, who scored their equaliser in Sunday’s draw at West Ham says they shouldn’t be too downhearted.

‘‘We shouldn’t get too despondent,’’ he said. ‘‘You saw with the results on Saturday that teams are fighting, they have got more organised and they are getting results.

“We haven’t been at our best the last few weeks. It is important we get back to the training ground and back to the way we were playing a few weeks ago, because we were very strong and we haven’t been so good lately.”