Mourinho not concerned by defeat

Jose Mourinho will not read too much into Chelsea’s defeat by AC Milan in the final match of their ChampionsWorld Series pre-season campaign in America.

Eidur Gudjohnsen and Didier Drogba both scored first-half goals before Chelsea let their 2-1 lead become a 3-2 reverse against the Italians at the Lincoln Financial Field in Philadelphia.

After wins over Oxford, then Celtic and Roma, last night’s loss was the first taste of defeat for Mourinho since he took charge during the summer.

However, the former Porto manager has always insisted he is using the tour as a training exercise to fine tune a much-changed squad for what he hopes will be a sustained assault on both the Barclaycard Premiership and Champions League.

“It’s the same as after the victories and was a good training session,” said Mourinho in the London Evening Standard.

“Maybe it was even better because Milan are stronger team and played with a stronger attitude.

“It was a great training session.”

Cafu had cancelled out Gudjohnsen’s opener with a stunning near-post volley from a corner, before record signing Drogba headed Chelsea back in front before half-time.

Portugal centre-back Ricardo Carvalho came on to make his Chelsea debut in the second period, only for some lax defending to let AC Milan back into the match.

An unmarked Alessandro Costacurta levelled from a corner on 76 minutes, with Andrei Shevchenko’s late free-kick completing the turnaround.

Mourinho reflected: “If it was a real game the result was not fair, but football is not always how it should be.

“The second-half was under control and I did not see Milan scoring a goal.

“You cannot just concede a goal from a corner and that’s the lesson we must learn.

“When you are the better team and lose a competitive match you are really sad.”

Chelsea have one more friendly – Sunday’s tribute match to Gianfranco Zola at Stamford Bridge – before their Premiership campaign begins in earnest against Manchester United on August 15.

Mourinho is confident his new-look Blues will be ready for the challenges ahead.

“I am really happy with the tour and the players, the way they are training, their evolution as a team and the way they play,” he said.

“We have the right players and we will be ready. We need more time to become a really good team, but we still have 12 days.”

Mourinho added: “It’s an important match, but it’s just worth three points. It will not decide the season.”