Porto vs Chelsea preview - Jose Mourinho: Chelsea players are not untouchable

Posted Tuesday, September 29, 2015 by PA

Jose Mourinho has told his Chelsea players they are far from untouchable as he prepared to unleash Diego Costa on his former club Porto.

The Blues boss memorably described the nucleus of his first Chelsea side as permanent names on the team-sheet, but believes his underperforming players are short of that status this term.

"Untouchables in football, only consistency can give you that status," said Mourinho, whose champions are 15th in the Premier League after two wins in the opening seven games.

"In this moment we have fantastic players, the players that gave us the title last season.

"But football is about today, it's not about yesterday. In football you have to be consistent in your performance, in your emotion.

"To be a winner you don't need to win all the time, but to be a winner you must have a strong mentality every game, every day. At this moment I don't have untouchables."

Mourinho had a strong core to his Premier League and Capital One Cup-winning side last term, which included Costa.

The striker is two matches into a three-match domestic suspension, but is available for Tuesday night's Champions League Group G clash at Estadio do Dragao.

Mourinho will attempt to put sentiment to one side against Porto, whom he guided to the 2003 UEFA Cup and the 2004 Champions League titles.

There are numerous sub-plots in the encounter too, not least the one which sees Mourinho face Iker Casillas, the goalkeeper with whom he had a rotten relationship at Real Madrid.

Mourinho interrupted the first question on the subject.

"If you're going to ask me about Casillas, I'm going to greet him at the beginning and the end. No more questions about it," he said.

Porto boss Julen Lopetegui, meanwhile, says his side must be at their very best against Chelsea.

The Premier League champions have made an inconsistent start to the season but the opening 4-0 Group G victory over Maccabi Tel-Aviv shows Lopetegui of the danger posed by the Blues.

"They won their first European game 4-0 and are a strong team, one of the biggest in the world," he said.

"We'll have to put in the perfect game to beat them."

Chelsea have been so inconsistent of late it is difficult to tell which side will turn up, but Porto are taking nothing for granted.

"We want to put in a great performance tomorrow, even against a team of Chelsea's power," added Lopetegui, whose side drew 2-2 in their opening game with Dynamo Kiev.

Lopetegui has shared history with Mourinho. They were briefly at Barcelona at the same time, while the former goalkeeper also had a spell at Real Madrid prior to Mourinho joining the Spanish giants in 2010.

Asked whether there were any similarities between the pair, Lopetegui said: "I'm not going to answer that, other than to say Mr Mourinho is a wonderful coach and did great things at Porto. Winning trophies. I will respect that."