Et tu, Jose? Mourinho returns to haunt Blues

JOSE MOURINHO, who once made Chelsea great but was brutally discarded for his troubles, returned last night to destroy his former club’s Champions League hopes and leave them facing a serious inquest over whether those glory days will ever be repeated.

Everyone knows the Special One doesn’t lose at Stamford Bridge – only Barcelona managed it in almost four years during his time in charge in west London – so when Samuel Eto’o flashed home a 78th minute winner to give Inter Milan a 3-1 victory on aggregate in this last-16 tie, no-one should have been surprised.

But the way the Italians dominated the match and out-thought, out-fought and out-battled Chelsea is hugely significant.

Chelsea’s chances were not helped by a red card for Didier Drogba late on, the same man sent off in the Champions League final of 2008 and banned for the start of this campaign for his disgraceful behaviour after Chelsea were knocked out by Barcelona last season.

But in truth Inter had already won the tactical and physical battle by the time the Ivorian lashed out at Thiago Motta and then disappeared down the tunnel along with his team’s Champions League dream.

In essence the home side, who outmuscled Arsenal so brutally in the Premier League this season, went home knowing they had been out-Chelsea’d by the very man who taught them how to fight and that is something Carlo Ancelotti will have to live with because he was outmanoeuvred by his bitter rival.

Mind you, Inter’s players deserve as much credit as their manager because the action was eye-wateringly ferocious and unforgiving as the match was played with a spine-tingling intensity rarely seen in the Champions League, reflecting a simmering animosity between the two managers and, of course, an underlying tension between Mourinho and the club that sacked him.

Given that information, it really should have been no surprise the match turned into such a powder keg. But we had somehow been lulled into a false sense of security, partly because Mourinho’s stage entrance was surprisingly low-key. He signed autographs before kick-off and there were muted chants of the “Jo-se Mourinho” but not the outpouring of emotion and hero-worship many had expected. Perhaps even Chelsea fans realised there really was no room for sentimentality.

So instead of a Jose love-in we had a battle – and one that Inter won by knockout.

Mourinho, who said he had spent sleepless nights replaying a DVD of the first leg seven times, set up his side to provide Chelsea with a physical as well as tactical challenge and his players didn’t disappoint.

Inter, with four attacking players on the field, crunched into challenges, matched Drogba in the air and surprised the hosts with a thunderous approach that had Chelsea on the back foot.

Mourinho, too, was more animated than ever; leaping to his feet, waving his hands furiously, snarling in every direction and lambasting the fourth official at every opportunity.

Inter had chances to score the killer goal in the first half, notably when Terry misjudged a deep cross from Maicon, leaving the hugely impressive Eto’o, whose movement all match was nothing short of world class, a half chance at the far post which he failed to take.

But Chelsea could also point to two penalty claims when Inter’s aggressive defending at corners saw Ivanovic and then Drogba wrestled to the floor by Walter Samuel.

Not all of Inter’s defending was illegal, however. They produced wonderful blocks to deny Drogba and Malouda before keeper Julio Cesar somehow kept out Anelka from close range as Chelsea finished the half in the ascendancy and continued that progress in the early stages of the second half.

Perhaps the closest they came was after 52 minutes when Malouda’s sharp shot on the turn was tipped around the post but Inter’s defending and subsequent pace on the break meant there was never time for Ancelotti’s team to relax.

Chelsea almost succumbed on the hour when Inter missed a hat-trick of chances inside five minutes, Milito being denied by a superb Zhirkov tackle before skewing another effort painfully wide and then watching as Motta somehow headed over the bar when unmarked from a deep free-kick. By this stage the atmosphere in the stands was as passionate, tense and committed as the action on it but Inter silenced the home crowd in one fell swoop, Eto’o racing onto a wonderful through-ball from Sneijder and finishing emphatically on 78 minutes.

Chelsea’s hopes of turning defeat into a miraculous victory ended with Drogba’s departure in the 86th minute, the striker trudging off the field as Motta lay writhing on the floor in Inter’s own six-yard box.

Mourinho scuttled off down the tunnel before the final whistle blew, keeping a promise not to over-celebrate against his old club. But the Special One had made his point and Chelsea must wonder why the most tactically astute, passionate and charismatic manager in football was at Stamford Bridge last night, sitting in the wrong dugout.