Two years without a tropy felt like 20, says Jose Mourinho

Posted Monday, March 02, 2015 by The Telegraph

Chelsea manager ends personal run without silverware, and reveals suspended Nemanja Matic's pre-match speech before the win over Tottenham

Two years without a tropy felt like 20, says Jose Mourinho
Wembley wonders: Chelsea celebrate winning the Capital One Cup

Jose Mourinho has admitted that two years without a trophy felt like 20, but claimed Chelsea’s Capital One Cup victory over Tottenham Hotspur can be a catalyst for further success.

Goals from captain John Terry and Diego Costa, via a deflection off Kyle Walker, secured a 2-0 success over Spurs and a first piece of silverware of the season for Chelsea on the same day they received a major Premier League title boost with Manchester City losing at Liverpool.

The Capital One Cup ended manager Mourinho’s personal run without a trophy that stretched two years and 10 months and was the first winners’ medal at Chelsea for a number of players in his squad.

“You work hard to be successful, step by step, but everything happened very fast for me,” said Mourinho.

“I started in 2000. I won the Uefa Cup in 2003, the Champions League in 2004. I didn't have time to process that. I went in a different direction, with two seasons without a trophy, and it looked like I was 20 years without a trophy. Even myself. This is a good problem, to have the feeling that two years is a long time. That's a good feeling.

“For me, it's important to feel that I'm a kid. Before the game, I had the same feelings as my first final however many years ago. It's important to feel the same happiness after the victory and to feel a kid at 52 years old. That for me is very important.

“I know I have a team to build, which is what we're doing, but it's difficult for me to live without titles, even with all the work to be stable that we are doing. I need to feed myself with titles. This is important for me and the boys. For the club it's one more cup, but it's the first one of a new team. You have Petr Cech, John Terry, Didier Drogba and, after that, everybody belongs to a new generation of players. So, as a team, it’s very, very important.”

Mourinho banned his players from watching City’s Premier League game at Liverpool, but news of their defeat that means Chelsea are still five points clear at the top of the table was accidentally revealed by assistant first-team coach Silvino Louro.

“The perfect day was to win the final,” said Mourinho.

“I prepared the players for an impossible mission, which was not knowing the City result. Forget City. I knew that was an impossible mission, but I didn't want the television in the hotel or on the bus.

“I told them I didn't want any kind of manifestation or disappointment if City scored in the last minute, or Liverpool won. I wanted complete silence. We were successful on that. But one member of my staff jumped up in the bus. Silvino. I wanted to kill the guy. He broke the rule. I stopped their reactions, lousy reactions, no happiness. Forget the Premier League, with this difficult job against Tottenham.”

Suspended Nemanja Matic celebrated Chelsea’s victory in full Chelsea kit at the final whistle and Mourinho revealed the midfielder was given an important role in the pre-final build up.

“I didn't use him as a motivation,” said Mourinho. “The boy was sad. The other people were sad for him. He made the speech in the dressing room expressing his pain not to be playing and asking the players to express the pleasure he couldn't have to play this final. For me, the pain was to see a player (Ashley Barnes) play yesterday and Matic not playing today.”

Mourinho telephoned his wife Matilde in the Wembley tunnel at the final whistle to tell her the score before celebrating with the players.

“I rang my wife,” said Mourinho. “She was waiting. She didn't know the result. I had my son and my daughter here, but my wife was at home and didn't know the result until I called.”

Tottenham head coach Mauricio Pochettino believes the Capital One Cup final will be the first of many for his young side that included four home-grown players – Nabil Bentaleb, Ryan Mason, Harry Kane and Andros Townsend.
“We have to feel proud of our players,” said Pochettino. “I want to congratulate Chelsea. I'm disappointed for us, but proud at the same time.

“We have to take a lot of positives. We are a very young squad - today, 23.5 average. For many players, they will play a lot of finals in the next few years. We need to improve and learn, and we will do from this final. This group has a very (bright) future.”

Pochettino celebrates his 43rd birthday on Monday and added: “I don't change my plans - training. I'm never happy on my birthday. It's because it's one year older. It's difficult. After 40 years, it's difficult, no?”