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Jose Mourinho: Don’t ask me to speak about Roberto Di Matteo

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Jose Mourinho is not motivated by the thought of matching Roberto Di

Matteo's achievement of winning the Champions League with Chelsea.

Mourinho said his focus is instead on building his next great team at

Stamford Bridge, one that is capable of challenging for the trophy

that has so far eluded him during his time in west London.

The Portuguese, who delivered Champions League titles while in charge

at Porto and Inter Milan, has so far not been able to repeat the feat

with Chelsea, whose one and only success in the competition came under

Di Matteo's stewardship in 2012.

But this season has started promisingly for the Blues, who are

unbeaten in all competitions and sit clear at the top of the Premier

League.

Progression into the knockout stages of the Champions League can be

attained with a victory over Di Matteo's Schalke side in Gelsenkirchen

on Tuesday night, but Mourinho is not thinking about having to equal

the Italian's triumphs during his spell at Chelsea.

"Don't ask me to speak about him,"

Mourinho said when asked about the former Blues midfielder. "The

history is the history — he was on the Chelsea bench when Chelsea won

the Champions League and he is a historic name in this club. I have

nothing more to say.

"My name is in the history of this club. A football club is made of

many, many names — not one or two names or one player or one manager.

I did my history here and now I have the chance to make more history

here and he was Chelsea manager and he did his history."

Although winning Europe's elite club competition is seen as a huge

accolade, Mourinho refuses to pin his Chelsea legacy on delivering

that title and is keen to establish a new generation of players who

can fight for trophies across the board.

"I want to win the next match. I want to make the team come up and the

Champions League — I say many, many times — is not a consequence of

a great work," he said. "Sometimes it is not. You can win the

Champions League in the worst season. You can finish fifth and win the

Champions League. Liverpool did and Chelsea too.

"So the Champions League is something that you can not say, 'This is

the direction I want to go.' A knockout competition is something that

always has a big percentage of unpredictability.

"I can do nothing to win it. I can only work to improve my team all

the time, make a very good team like we are doing. Me working on the

pitch, the board working at other levels, to make a great team like we

did in 2004-05-06."

Mourinho has targeted victory in Germany to secure safe passage at the

first opportunity and avoid tricky fixtures in among important

domestic games in December, warning his players not to take

qualification for granted.

The teams drew 1-1 at Stamford Bridge in the first round of fixtures

before Di Matteo replaced Jens Keller as Schalke boss.

Credit: PA Sports

Kofi Oppong Kyekyeku

I am a Ghanaian Broadcast Journalist/Writer who has an interest in General News, Sports, Entertainment, Health, Lifestyle and many more.

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