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#2 The Mourinho factor
Jose Mourinho is one of the most successful coaches in history, winning multiple titles across four different major European leagues, including two Champions League trophies won with FC Porto and Inter Milan.
His most successful spell however came at Chelsea, with whom he won eight trophies across two spells in charge of the club and till this day remains the most successful manager in the club’s history, winning exactly half of The Blues’ six domestic titles.
The self styled ‘Special One’ won Chelsea hearts the world over, as he helped transform the club’s fortunes from being a modest club attempting to break into the upper echelons of British football into becoming a genuine European footballing heavyweight.
He guided the London outfit to its first league title in over 50 years in record breaking fashion in his first season at the helm in 2005, repeating the feat a season later, but departed in acrimonious circumstances in 2007. He returned again in 2013 to once more get sacked after a shambolic start to the 2015/2016 season, which was fuelled by player clashes with the manager, but not before he had guided the club to another Premier League and League Cup title the season before.
Since the end of his second spell at Stamford Bridge, the 58-year-old has not had happy memories of his return to his former stomping ground, and was given a 4-0 drubbing on his first visit to the club against then manager Antonio Conte.
Jose Mourinho’s intimate familiarity with the inner workings of the club, as well as the fact that he worked closely with and in most cases signed a lot of Chelsea’s key players is a big factor which could swing this tie in the favour of the visitors.
