Mourinho: It’s time for Blues to be brave

Jose Mourinho wants Chelsea to secure their Champions League progression at Basel tonight before turning their focus on the hectic festive schedule which is “only for the braves”.

Chelsea need a point to advance but a fourth straight win, following the opening loss at home to Basel, would secure top spot in Group E ahead of the final encounter with Steaua Bucharest on December 11.

In comments reminiscent of his first spell — when Mourinho sported a crew-cut and memorably stated “I am ready for the war” — Mourinho stated his desire to beat Basel and then focus on eight domestic fixtures in December, seven of them in the Premier League.

“It’s a period I like,” said Mourinho, again sporting a short haircut.

“It’s a period where I think only the braves can survive because it’s hard. We go into the Christmas period and the accumulation of matches is so high, we don’t do it as a normal thing, we do it as a special group with a special mentality, enjoying the situation, forgetting we don’t have a Christmas [break] like the Spanish, Italian and German players. We don’t have that.

“But we have the pleasure of playing a period that’s only for the braves. I like that very, very much.

“I enjoyed it when I was in England and missed it in Spain and Italy. Now I’m back I want to enjoy it, I want the players to enjoy it, and we need a special mentality to cope with that situation.

“Nine matches and one of them is the match against Steaua. That’s our motivation for tomorrow, to try to kill the situation in the group phase and give us a little bit of space in December.”

Fernando Torres is fit to return from an adductor injury which has seen him miss the last three matches but defender David Luiz did not travel due to a knee problem.

Mourinho insists the onus is on Basel, who must match Schalke’s result with Steaua and beat the Germans next month to advance.

“They are under pressure and we are not,” Mourinho said. “This Chelsea is better than the Chelsea that played at Stamford Bridge. Hopefully we can continue the good run we’ve had in the Champions League and finish the job.”

Basel, however, are looking to repeat their giant-killing act against English opposition. Aside from their win at Stamford Bridge in September, the Swiss side also ended Manchester United’s Champions League campaign prematurely in 2011/12, the season Chelsea went on to win the European Cup, with a 2-1 victory in the final group contest at St Jakob Park.

Forward Fabian Frei said: “Our first target is third place at the end of this group stage, but we will try to reach second place as well. Our first target is to get this one point, then we’re sure of third position.”