Jose turns focus to Reds after cup debacle

Jose Mourinho has refused to dwell on Chelsea’s shock FA Cup exit to Bradford as he eyes a Wembley final at the expense of Liverpool.

Mourinho, who yesterday celebrated his 52nd birthday, labelled last Saturday’s loss to League One Bradford a “disgrace” after the Blues led 2-0 only to fall to a 4-2 defeat.

Chelsea face Liverpool at Stamford Bridge tonight with their Capital One Cup semi-final poised at 1-1 after the first leg and Mourinho has quickly recalibrated.

“The next game is the most important one,” Mourinho said. “We need to forget this one (Bradford) and start the next game in a different competition, and I know we are one victory away from a final.

“It’s the good thing about playing consecutive matches without many days in between.

“It’s the good thing that, when you lose, you have to focus immediately on the next game.

“You don’t have a lot of time to be moaning or analysing what happened in the bad one. Let’s move and let’s think about the next one.

“At the end of May, beginning of June, we don’t go to Wembley to play the FA Cup final, that’s for sure.

“The FA Cup is finished for us. We don’t go there even to play the FA Cup semi-final. It’s over for us.

“To go there — and I think that should mean a lot to everyone — the last chance we have is this one, to play there in the Capital One Cup final.”

Mourinho is likely to revert to his first-choice players in a key week for Chelsea as holders Manchester City visit the leaders in the Premier League on Saturday.

That should mean a start for Cesc Fabregas.

The Spaniard admits he has sparked his football career back to life since returning to London.

Despite now playing for Mourinho, a coach he grew to dislike during an eight-year spell at Arsenal and a three-year stay in Barcelona, the Chelsea midfielder could not be happier.

“Three years ago I wouldn’t have imagined working under Mourinho,” Fabregas admitted.

“But in the end, life has many turns, and more so in football.

“We had a big rivalry with Mou (Mourinho), we were against him but I never hated him.”

During his years at Arsenal, Mourinho was not the only Chelsea figure that Fabregas disliked.

“Chelsea was the team that I wanted to beat the most,” he said. “I also had a lot of spats with (John) Terry but in the end, we are people.

“I’m not driven by hate.”

Past rivalries did not prevent Fabregas from moving to Stamford Bridge last summer on a five-year contract.

He needed a fresh start after three difficult seasons at Barcelona.

“At Barcelona, things didn’t go as I had desired but I’m nevertheless proud of what I did,” the 27-year-old said. “I won titles although I was not recognised.”

What the Spain international says he has discovered is that Mourinho has many attributes, just as his former Barca coach Pep Guardiola has.

“They are both winners,” he said. “They both hate to lose. They are more similar than people think.”

Arsenal turned down an option to acquire him last summer, which made it easy for Fabregas to join Chelsea.

“I returned to London because I try to go to the places where I feel loved and happy,” he said. “The change from Arsenal to Chelsea from a sporting point of view has not been that big.

“Had I made that change three years ago, I guessed it would have been a bigger adjustment but not now.

“Chelsea has changed, it’s not the team I expected.

“Now it’s a team that wants a starring role. It wants to dominate games, have more possession. From a football standpoint it is similar to Arsenal.”

Once his playing career is over, the World Cup winner with Spain has designs on coaching.

“I’m learning from the best of the best and I feel very fortunate,” he said. “I think I have the personality to become a coach but we shall see. I feel I will end up coaching one day.”