Jose Mourinho claimed tonight that his Chelsea team could out-score Paris Saint-Germain and reach the Champions League semi-finals, despite the fact that he is considering Samuel Eto’o as his starting striker, although the 33-year-old is not fully fit.
It is yet another indication of the lack of faith in his alternative striking options, including Fernando Torres and Demba Ba, that Mourinho signalled he was ready to risk Eto’o on Tuesday night, who has not played a game since he injured his hamstring against Arsenal on 22 March.
Trailing 3-1 from the first leg, Mourinho admitted that Eto’o was not, in his words “fit-fit” but that he was still a possibility to start the game ahead of Torres, who played 90 minutes against Stoke City on Saturday.
Downbeat, and admitting he was a little “grumpy”, Mourinho said he still had Eto’o in mind for the game at Stamford Bridge. In response to a question about the fitness of Eto’o, he said: “Fit-fit, I don’t think he is. But play [against PSG]? Maybe. Maybe.” Eto’o has 30 career goals in the Champions League, three of them this season for Chelsea. Torres also has three in the competition this season.
Pushed on whether he believed that Chelsea could eliminate PSG, who have never been past the quarter-finals of the competition in their history, Mourinho roused himself to say that he still believed his side could prevail, although this was a long way from his most ebullient press conference. Having said after the first leg that he would have won the game with the likes of Zlatan Ibrahimovic, Ezequiel Lavezzi and Edinson Cavani in his squad, he said this time that he believed his team could score the goals required.
Mourinho said: “They [PSG] have what they have, we have what we have. If you ask me if I think we’ll win, yes, I think so. I think so. That’s the most important thing for you to hear. I think we are going to win, really. I think, at the end of the two legs, we’ll have scored more goals than them. Pure mathematics. It is 3-1 now, but in the end I think it can be 4-3, or 5-4. If I didn’t think that, I wouldn’t go to the game, and I’m happy to go.”
Source: The Independent