Chelsea boss Jose Mourinho admits FA Cup humiliation will stay with Blues forever
Posted Tuesday, January 27, 2015 by Dailystar.co.uk
JOSE MOURINHO admits Chelsea's FA Cup humiliation against Bradford is a stain that can never be removed.
But Mourinho has warned Liverpool to expect the full force of a Chelsea backlash in the Capital One Cup tonight.
Safe passage through the second leg of the semi-final represents the Blues' only hope of a Wembley date after they were stunned 4-2 by Bradford on Saturday.
And Mourinho reckons the defeat to the Bantams will serve as all the motivation Chelsea need to put the Reds to the sword at Stamford Bridge, with the tie delicately poised at 1-1.
"I believe losing to Bradford stays in our history as a negative point of every one of us," Mourinho admitted.
"But at this moment we have a lot to play for. The fans want to go to Wembley again, and the same thing with me and the players after such a disappointment.
"We don't go even to Wembley to play an FA Cup semi-final so to go there should mean a lot to everyone.
"Everybody wants it more now because the only domestic cup we can win is the Capital One Cup.
HISTORY: Chelsea's 4-2 FA Cup defeat to Bradford will be a stain on their books
"The fact that we play against a good team, maybe that will push us to a different level of concentration and motivation that we couldn't reach against Bradford.
"We have that Liverpool game and after that we still have Premier League and Champions League. So we have enough motivation to carry on."
Mourinho rested a number of his key players against Bradford.
And having claimed the shock defeat shows why he is reluctant to rotate, 'The Special One' is set to unleash his star men tonight.
"Obviously I rested some of them with the intention of playing against Liverpool," added the Blues boss.
"So it's easy to understand that [Nemanja] Matic, [Branislav] Ivanovic, Diego Costa, Fabregas and Hazard are going to play."
But despite confirming he will pick his strongest team, Mourinho is playing down the significance of Blues' home advantage.
He added: "Sometimes semi-finals are one leg, in the FA Cup it's a neutral pitch - in this case it was two legs.
"We transform two legs into one leg because we drew at Anfield. Normally playing at home is better than playing away but an advantage, I don't think so."
Chelsea took the lead in the first leg at Anfield when Hazard converted a first-half penalty.
But Raheem Sterling equalised with a brilliant solo goal to leave the tie in the balance.
Even so, Mourinho insists he has no special plan for the England star Sterling.
"He scored a fantastic goal but I didn't see too much more than that," Mourinho explained.
"In that action [of scoring] he was fantastic, but we made a couple of mistakes in the way we approached that situation."
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