José Mourinho has reiterated his love for “his” Chelsea, insisting he will remain the top manager in Blues history until his record of three Premier League titles is beaten.
Recently appointed by Benfica, Mourinho will return to Stamford Bridge on Tuesday night for a meeting with his former employers, with whom he enjoys a complicated relationship. His time with Manchester United and Tottenham Hotspur left a sour taste in the mouths of some supporters, but others remember him fondly from his two spells at Chelsea from 2004–07 and 2013–15.
Mourinho famously described himself as “a special one” in his first press conference at Chelsea 21 years ago and switched his title to “The Happy One” when he returned in 2013. Now, he goes by “The Biggest One.”
“Chelsea won something before my time and then we started winning, and my team kept winning and then a transformation of new teams, new coaches, more trophies, European trophies, the biggest one—the Champions League,” Mourinho told his pre-match press conference. “So Chelsea is a winning machine. I’m ‘The Biggest One’ until someone wins four.”
“I am used to going past here every day,” he continued. “I have been back here with different teams so I will not feel any antagonism. I am able to isolate this context. They forget it’s me and they want to win, and I forget it’s them and they want to win. I am not a blue any more, I am red and want to win.
“Of course, I will always be a blue. I am part of their history and they are part of my history. I helped them to become a bigger Chelsea and they helped me to become a bigger José. In relation to the pictures on the wall, there are not many clubs that do this, because in many clubs it looks like there is a fear of what happened in the past. Sometimes it looks like they want to delete people that made history in the clubs.
“You’ll be my Chelsea until it starts. You’ll be my Chelsea after the game.”
Enzo Maresca: ‘A Privilege to Face Mourinho’
Chelsea painted the walls of the press conference rooms with photos of Mourinho’s past triumphs at Stamford Bridge as a mark of respect to their former boss, who dreams of earning the same level of admiration.
“It’s a privilege to face José,” Maresca explained. “A legend for this club.
“I feel already quite lucky to be in some pictures at the training ground with the Club World Cup and Conference League after one season. The target hopefully is one day we can all together enjoy these kinds of moments.”
Fans are yet to sing Maresca’s name—if anything, supporters have started voicing their frustrations towards the boss over a slow start to the season—but he is currently focused on restoring the team to its former glory, rather than the individual plaudits that would come with it.
“I would like [fans to sing my name] one day for sure, but it’s not my target,” he continued. “I’m happy if they can sing ‘we’ve got our Chelsea back,’ because that means as a team we are doing something important.
“For sure [it would be special], but if they sing, ‘we’ve got our Chelsea back,’ I’m already happy. Maybe one day they can sing my name even more.”
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This article was originally published on www.si.com as ‘The Biggest One’—Jose Mourinho Makes Bold Chelsea Claim Before Champions League Reunion.
