Mourinho eyeing ‘unique’ treble

Champions League Group G

If Jose Mourinho hasn’t offered so many eye-catching lines of late, there is a reason, and it’s not just because things are going well for his club.

The story at Chelsea is that, perturbed by the amount of headlines he caused last season — and the number of FA charges he faced — the Portuguese is playing everything down, trying to more drearily just talk about the job at hand.

That was initially the case on the eve of his team’s opening Champions League match against an off-colour Schalke, as he first refused to discuss anything other than the need to just get three points, or whether the idea of winning the trophy for a joint-record third time weighs on his mind. As the press conference went on, though, Mourinho eventually gave way. He spoke at length about what the European Cup means to him, and how he does aim for a “unique” achievement — the first manager to win it with three different clubs. He couldn’t resist the odd dig in there either.

“The tournament is part of my history,” Mourinho eventuality said. “I am part of the tournament’s history. It’s simple. If I win it once more, to win with three clubs, it’s unique.

“Even if I don’t do it, how many top managers in the world have only one or even not a single one? You have the example of the greatest in our country [Alex Ferguson], who won it twice. Even if, from this moment, I don’t win a single match in the Champions League, my history is there. I won it twice and that’s fantastic, and something of which to be proud.

“Do I want to try and win it again? Of course I do. I have so many years ahead of me in terms of career. Obviously I have the ambition to win it again. But in this moment, I only think about not playing in the Europa League. I want my club to succeed in the group stage. It would be very bad for the evolution of the group and the players to go into the Europa League, and for the club’s prestige. Chelsea are not about the Europa League.”

Mourinho does believe his side are much better equipped to win it than last term.

“I think the second season is a good space for evolution, for improvement. It’s not easy to improve on what we did last season in terms of the table or the Champions League, but I think we are a better team.”

The Portuguese also thinks Eden Hazard is on the verge of becoming a much better player, and potentially one of the “greats of his generation”, as he confirmed the Belgian is on the verge of signing a new contract. Hazard is now expected to agree a five-year deal at £200,000 a week.

Meanwhile Schalke boss Jens Keller faces a defensive injury crisis with World Cup-winning Germany defender and captain Benedikt Howedes joining a lengthy list of absentees.

“Of course it’s very difficult if you lose your captain,” said Keller, who said Jan Kirchhoff could return from injury.

“We’ll just have to put four players into the back four. We’ve still got a bit of time to think about what our solutions are and what options we have.

“I don’t know how long he’ll be missing, but he is a very important player for us. He’s very confident now, having won the World Cup.”

Keller, who believes last season’s semi-finalists Chelsea will go far in this season’s competition, added: “We’ve learnt that mistakes get punished. We learned that home and away last season.

“They’re a top team and now with the new acquisitions they’re even more of a top team.

“I think that Chelsea will definitely have a say in this competition.”