CAPITAL ONE CUP: Chelsea Wants To Make It To Wembley Says Mourinho

Jose Mourinho is looking forward to Liverpool facing a highly motivated Chelsea when they arrive at Stamford Bridge for tonight’s big cup match. The Blues are aiming for a rapid response to our first defeat of the season on home turf three days ago, as we take on opposition we know well.

‘It is a semi-final second leg, a knockout game, live or die, against a very good team,’ said Mourinho, ‘and maybe that pushes us to a good level of concentration and motivation that maybe we couldn’t reach against Bradford.


‘The fans want to go to Wembley and it is the same with me and the players. After such a disappointment I think everybody wants more now, because the only domestic knockout cup we can win is the Capital One Cup.

‘At this moment we have a lot to play for – the Liverpool game, the Premier League and the Champions League and we have enough motivation to carry on.’

The manager has indicated players not in the starting line-up in the FA Cup defeat will return this evening.

‘My team selections always have a relation to performances in training and performance in matches, so I analyse the Bradford game well and see which players deserve more to play, but obviously I rested some with the intention to play against Liverpool. It is easy to understand that Matic, Ivanovic, Diego Costa, Fabregas and Hazard, these players are going to play.’

Reflecting on last week’s first leg, when Raheem Sterling’s second-half strike levelled the scores after an early Eden Hazard penalty, Mourinho felt we could have been more clinical on the break, but acknowledged it was a good result.

‘I was frustrated because Liverpool give a lot of space, they played with three defenders, the full-backs were wide, there was lots of space to play and we could hurt them much more than we did there,’ he said.

‘I was frustrated because normally our midfield is a midfield full of quality. We have very good quality after recovering the ball. And we lost so many passes. Recover the ball, lose the ball, recover the ball, lose the ball. I'm frustrated because in that game I saw enough spaces to score more goals.

‘But the team had discipline, very good individual and collective commitment and effort. Liverpool played well, especially in the second half, and the result is a positive result in a two-legged semi-final.’