Mourinho irks Uefa yet again

Soccer/Uefa Champions League quarter-finals: Chelsea may be facing one of the defining games of their season this evening but Jose Mourinho is not so engrossed with the challenge of seeing off Bayern Munich he has forgotten his feud with Uefa.

The manager prepared for his second and final Champions League suspension from the touchline by provoking renewed hostilities with the governing body.

Mourinho will presumably be delighted Uefa reacted angrily after he sent the fitness coach Rui Faria and scarcely used striker Mikael Forssell to represent Chelsea at the pre-match press conference. Given Faria was not wearing a woolly hat, there was never even the chance he would relay messages passed via an earpiece from Mourinho.

If Chelsea fans feel disappointed to be hearing before such an important game from a fitness coach and a squad member, they will hardly care as long as the team hold their 4-2 advantage.

Chelsea were not in breach of Uefa regulations but Mourinho was clearly trying not only to irritate Uefa after being fined and banned, but also to expose its impotence, as he did at the first leg by either communicating with his staff during the game or concocting an elaborate hoax.

"It is not appropriate," a Uefa representative Wolfgang Eichler said of Chelsea's conduct here. "The situation has been very tense between Uefa and Mourinho . . . Bayern put up the manager (Felix Magath) and Oliver Kahn - the captain and a key player - as well as Owen Hargreaves. Chelsea have not even bothered telling us in advance who they are putting up."

Faria said he would again be wearing a hat and passing messages to coaches Steve Clarke and Baltemar Brito, though he insisted he had not been in contact with Mourinho during the first leg and the same would apply here. "I have nothing to hide and I think you are too worried with silly things," Faria said. So why the note-passing? "We have things we prepare before, things we need to look for during the match, and so it's perfectly normal to discuss these things."

Faria said the notes could contain his thoughts on set plays and the team's performance. "We always have to give our opinion," he said, adding: "If you don't have an opinion, you are nothing (in Mourinho's coaching team)."

All of which raised the question why he had not been scribbling in the 1-1 draw against Birmingham on Saturday. "With Jose on the bench, things that he prepared for us for that special match (against Bayern) you don't need to be so worried about."

Bayern feel Chelsea ought to be worried, even though the Premiership leaders have never lost by two goals under Mourinho and last suffered such a defeat 56 games ago in Monaco, when Claudio Ranieri suffered a tactical brainstorm and saw his team beaten 3-1. Magath believes the return from injury of his strikers Roy Makaay and Claudio Pizarro, and the availability of midfielder Martin Demichelis, could prove decisive for Bayern.

"We are playing at home and we know what we have to achieve," he said. "I think after we score the first goal it will get more difficult for Chelsea because then they will be under pressure."

Chelsea will trust Didier Drogba can again unsettle Bayern's defence, and particularly Robert Kovac, with his aerial ability. Mourinho has surely pointed out to his team Bayern have not kept a clean sheet in their past seven Champions League games. A late penalty at Stamford Bridge has given Bayern hope where there seemed none and several Chelsea players believe Michael Ballack dived to win that spot-kick.

Guardian Service