Steaua Bucharest vs Chelsea preview - Mourinho makes swift exit

Posted Tuesday, October 01, 2013 by PA

Chelsea manager Jose Mourinho was in no mood for hanging around on the eve of the must win Champions League Group E clash with Steaua Bucharest.

Mourinho's mood imitated the stormy weather in the Romanian capital as the Portuguese shortened his pre-match media conference to stride out to oversee the final training session under the roof at the National Arena.

The self-proclaimed Special One declared himself the Happy One on his return to Stamford Bridge and he has been accommodating, jovial and cordial at his pre-match inquisitions thus far.

But with the Blues looking to bounce back from the opening round loss at home to Basle, Mourinho showed the first signs of strain in taking exception to a question about absent forward Kevin de Bruyne.

With Juan Mata told he will start in Bucharest after beginning the season as a peripheral figure, De Bruyne was told he was not required and was left at home alongside his fellow Belgian Eden Hazard, who has an ankle injury.

"This is fantastic because nobody asks me about Mata," Mourinho said.

"You are for three weeks speaking about Mata, and now you are speaking about Kevin de Bruyne.

"So you are not interested in the players that are playing? You are interested in the players that are not playing.

"He was not selected. It was my decision. Only 11 can play and 18 can be selected.

"I try to decide by what they do on the pitch when they play and what they do in training.

"I try to be honest with Juan and say that he's going to play tomorrow, because of what he did in training and because of what he did in the matches he played.

"With Kevin it's the same. He's not selected because I didn't like the match he played against Swindon and I didn't like the way he was training.

"But you have this tendency to only ask about the guys that are not selected.

"See you tomorrow."

The Blues came up against Steaua on their way to glory in last season's Europa League and midfielder Frank Lampard believes that will stand them in good stead.

"We're a very experienced squad, and you can never underestimate any side in the Champions League,," the England midfielder told the club's official website.

"In the first match we didn't perform well and we lost the game, that's what happens. Because we're experienced, if you think about it we've now got five games to go, so we aim to put that right.

"We certainly don't expect an easy game. We're lucky we played Steaua Bucharest last season because it makes us fully aware of the good team that they are and particularly the atmosphere we're going to get.

"Last year, in the first half we were slow and we weren't ready and we lost the game in the first half. Considering the position we're in now, and we need a result, we have to start the game at a top level.

"They're a team with a lot of history and strong support, that's pretty normal in the Champions League but they're a very good side.

"I think our group is quite tough, it's a group where people might have looked at in the beginning and thought it was relatively easy for Chelsea, but when you have a group where there's a good level and no one team stands out as being very weak you have to prepare for all the games professionally.

"We're well aware Steaua are a strong team and if we just turn up and think we're Chelsea, we're going to come and play and win the game easily, it's not going to happen, but that's down to us."