Excuses, excuses, and more excuses. It's as if he's given up on even having a chance tomorrow. Yeah, right. If he thinks his mind games will have any effect on Liverpool, he might as well give up.
Let's take a look at what the 'Special One' has to offer up today.
"It won't be a fair fight because the conditions are different," said Mourinho, citing the exhaustive schedule his players have undergone compared to that of the Merseysiders. "When Liverpool were in Portugal preparing for their game with [FC] Barcelona we played three matches including the League Cup final. Steven Gerrard did not play in Liverpool's last game [Saturday's 2-0 win against Wigan Athletic FC] – do you think Gerrard and Frank Lampard have the same conditions to compete?"
The Barcelona match was two months ago! Let's take a look at the recent schedules. Liverpool has played 7 matches since March 31, when the international break ended, while Chelsea has also played 7 matches in the same time frame. Hmmmm... Nice try Jose. Also, Steven Gerrard did play in the Wigan match, granted he came on as a sub, but from what I remember, 'injured' Frank Lampard didn't play in the Andorra match for England at all.
It gets better.
"We do think we can win but if they only play in one competition for half a season then they arrive at this crucial moment in a great situation. They had an easy group whereas Chelsea had a group containing Werder Bremen and Barcelona and then two games with [FC] Porto and two with Valencia [CF]."
Hey, Chelsea didn't have to play such strong sides in the Carling Cup, but they did. It's true we had an easy group, but we had to get past Barca in the first elimination round, arguably the best team in the world, and though we had a gimme in the second with a battered PSV Eindhoven, Chelsea had to get past the juggernauts of FC Porto (Mourinho's former team) and Valencia (currently standing in 5th in La Liga). There are really only two trophies that matter in an English team's season and those are the Premiership title and the Champion's League trophy, all the rest are just pat-on-the-backs.
Benitez's reply: "We are in a similar position. It is two good teams against each other. I don't like to play this game of saying 'You have fresh legs or you have been playing less important games'. We are confident because we are playing well and scoring goals but we know we are facing a very good team. Chelsea always spend big money on good players. They are in finals because they have good players and a good team."
I can already see the spin room at the Soft Egos Supporters Club of Chelsea working overtime to call that a dig. Source