Chelsea manager Jose Mourinho said on Tuesday that he feels he retains the support of owner Roman Abramovich despite the high risk of Champions League elimination.
The misfiring Premier League champions face a make-or-break home game with Mourinho’s former club Porto on Wednesday, when they need a draw to rubber-stamp their place in the Champions League last 16.
Chelsea remain 14th in the Premier League after Saturday’s shameful 1-0 loss at home to Bournemouth and Mourinho refused to speculate about what might happen if they fail against Porto, saying only “there are no ifs”.
But he issued an eye opening defence of his Chelsea record, saying: “I think that I did lots of good things in this club for the owner to know the quality I have.
“The owner shows me that belief twice: once when he brought me back to the club (in 2013); the second time when he gave me a new contract for four years (in August).
“I don’t think the owner is a person to change with the wind. I know the wind of the results is an important wind. I know this wind is strong because the results in the Premier League are really bad.
“But I think the owner knows who I am and what I give to the club, and the owner believes that I am the right person to do the job.”
Chelsea’s hierarchy gave Mourinho a public vote of confidence in October, but there has been no official communication from the club’s board since.
With a top-four finish in the Premier League looking an increasingly remote possibility, Chelsea need to find an alternative means of qualifying for next season’s Champions League.
If they finish third in Group G they will drop into the Europa League, but although victory in that competition would take them into the Champions League, Mourinho is setting his sights higher.
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