Chelsea boss Jose Mourinho is under pressure, and he showed it by lashing out at a reporter on Tuesday ahead of his side’s Champions League opener.
The pressure is on the Portuguese tactician as his side sit in 17th place in the Premier League table after losing three of their opening five games of the season.
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The situation involving Eva Carneiro, as reported by the Daily Mail, and an unconvincing transfer window has left the champions in a vulnerable position, although they will hope that their midweek exploits will give them a boost when they host Maccabi Tel Aviv at Stamford Bridge.
But tensions seem to be high prior to that fixture. At his pre-match press conference, Mourinho reacted angrily when asked about the ‘third-season syndrome’ that he supposedly suffers from.
The 52-year-old got into a heated exchange with BBC reporter Ben Smith about his apparent failures during his third year in charge of the clubs that he has managed, but responded by insisting that he had been successful on each occasion.
“Look, my third season – in Porto, I didn’t have a third season. My third season in Inter, I didn’t have a third season. My third season at Chelsea the first time, I won the FA Cup and the Carling Cup, and I played the Champions League semi-finals. My third season in Real Madrid, I won the Super Cup, I lost the cup [Copa del Rey] final, and I went to the Champions League semi-finals. These are my third seasons,” he told Smith.
“So click Google, instead of making stupid questions, click Google and try to find.”
Whether or not this is another sign of the pressure getting to the Chelsea boss is open to interpretation, but he knows as well as anyone that he needs to turn things around quickly.
The Blues are already 11 points adrift of title rivals Manchester City and, given the ominous early signs that Manuel Pellegrini’s side have shown domestically, their focus may well have to start to shift to winning in Europe to rescue their season.
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