Jose plays little horse once again

You get the feeling that Jose Mourinho is now using every opportunity he can to persuade the Chelsea hierarchy he should be given the kind of money that tonight’s opponents Paris Saint-Germain have spent in thetransfer market if his side are to challenge for big honours once again.

The Chelsea manager was quick to come out and criticise his players after the shock 1-0 defeat against Crystal Palace last weekend, which he felt ended their chances of winning the Premier League title this season.

Mourinho made a special point of picking out the likes of John Terry, Gary Cahill, Branislav Ivanovic and Cesar Azpilicueta who always give everything for the club, but challenged the attitude of some of his other big name stars when they play lower opposition.

As Chelsea prepare to face PSG in the quarter-finals of the Champions League tonight, you could sense some jealousy from the ‘Special One’ as he sat at the Parc des Princes and could only dream of having the finances that the French club have spent in recent seasons to acquire the best talent in Europe.

Since the French club’s Qatari owners took charge back in 2011, they have spent more than €300 million on new players, including the likes of Zlatan Ibrahimovic, Edinson Cavani and Ezequiel Lavezzi, which has seen them dominate French football and has given them a serious shot of winning the Champions League.

Mourinho might be playing his famous mind games once again, but he made a point of making PSG the favourites to win the game and pointed out that all the big teams in Europe have now got big name players who can help them win games.

With Chelsea failing to bring in a big name striker this season to score the goals to help them win the title, this was another chance for Mourinho to spell out the gap that his side need to make up with the other big European clubs.

Mourinho said: “Why are they favourites? Because they have a team full of fantastic attacking players, not to mention the others. I could talk about Thiago (Motta) and go on and on and on. They have fantastic strikers and goalscorers, and that is what really makes the difference at this level.

“You look to the teams who are in the top eight at this moment, and all of them are good teams. Different, but good teams. Good structures with a certain philosophy. But, after that, you go and you see Messi, Ronaldo, Lewandowski, Diego Costa, Ibra, Cavani, Lavezzi... they have lots of them. At this level, it’s a very important part of a team.”

Mourinho was asked if he could see comparisons between the huge outlay PSG are making and the cash Chelsea spent when Roman Abramovich arrived at Stamford Bridge.

He added: “You can find similarities. When Mr Abramovich bought the club, he was ready and keen and the football rules were open to that. So the investment was important. It was probably the most important investment in that period.

“As a consequence, Chelsea built year after year some of the best teams in European football. Paris are doing the same. Some people don’t understand very well how because it looks like the financial fair play is going to be in practice, but the reality is the investment in the last two years has been massive.”

There was the usual comedy moment from Mourinho as he was asked if he would reveal both lines-up like he did when Chelsea faced Barcelona in the competition back on 2005.

The Chelsea manager looked at the translator sitting alongside him who had guessed the two starting line-ups on a piece of paper.

After reading out the back five, Mourinho tore up the piece of paper which showed he is prepared to give nothing away in such a big game for the west London club.

Not everyone was seeing the funny side and PSG coach Laurent Blanc hit back at Mourinho’s claims the French League is easy, citing the Portuguese’s history with Real Madrid.

Blanc said: “There are two really big clubs in Ligue 1 (PSG and Monaco), but if I remember correctly, I think it was the same for him in Spain, with Barcelona and Madrid. The only answer we want to give is to show a great performance tomorrow and we’d like to show Ligue 1 has some very good teams and some very good players.”

Chelsea’s preparations were slightly overshadowed by stories coming out of Holland that the Dutch FA are investigating claims by Vitesse Arnham’s Georgian former owner Merab Jordania that the London club intentionally prevented Vitesse from winning the league and earning Champions League football.

Chelsea refused to comment on the allegations last night.