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| Jose Mourinho is hopeful Chelsea can mount a challenge in Europe despite their poor league form |
JOSE MOURINHO has surprised the football world before when coming out of nowhere to win the Champions League. So have Chelsea.
But together, Mourinho believes that Chelsea and him can this year do it again, just like he did with Porto in 2004 and with Inter Milan in 2010 - and just like the Stamford Bridge club did without him, but with a team that he largely built, on that famous night in Munich in 2012.
This year there are many teams in better form both in Europe and domestically than Chelsea - among them Barcelona, Bayern Munich, Paris St Germain, and Atletico Madrid.
Mourinho has already long written off any chance of retaining the Premier League title after Chelsea's wretched start to the season this term.
But the gradual, still fragile revival in form in recent weeks, strengthened by Saturday's narrow 1-0 win over Norwich, only their fourth in 14 matches, has confirmed his belief that a top four place is still up for grabs.
Tonight in Haifa against the Group G whipping boys Maccabi, Mourinho will attempt to continue the quest for what would be perhaps his finest Champions League triumph yet.
If Chelsea, as expected, can follow up their home win over the Israelis with another victory, they will be through to the knockout stages if Dynamo Kiev do not win in Porto tonight - with Porto at home in the final game for the shoot out for top seed.
"We know who the favourites are. But sometimes you win this competition when you are not the favourites," said Mourinho.
"I won with Porto and with Inter when we were far from favourites. "When Chelsea won it in 2012, it was in a very bad season for them. The Champions League has big doses of unpredictability.
"Objective one is to qualify. Objective two is to finish first. If we win tonight we can be qualified and in the fight for first position, which is important.
"We can reach 13 points if we win both matches. Let's try to qualify and live for the last match against Porto with a fight for first place.
"We have been able to use the Champions League this season to get some positive results and performances.
"We have obviously put ourselves in a very difficult position in the Premier League. If you have to recover 10 or 12 points from one team, it's possible. But the distance is to two, three or four teams. But if a bad season is to finish in the top four and qualify for the Champions League, we have to fight for it."
Mourinho is likely to field a strong team tonight, because the Champions League and the FA Cup are Chelsea's only remaining chances of silverware this season.
But a major boost for the Chelsea manager has been Belgian star Eden Hazard's return to form. Like too many players, Hazard has had a poor opening to the season but a switch to a central position behind front man Diego Costa appears to have triggered a resurgence.
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| Jose Mourinho has been boosted by the return to form of Eden Hazard |
Mourinho, though, is adamant that Hazard's best position is still out on the flanks, where he was instrumental in their title win last year and was Footballer of the Year.
He said: "Where Eden plays depends on the game, on the opposition. His best position is where last season he was the player of the year. "He can also do the No 10 position. But playing wide he can attack defenders in an individual way. As a No 10 sometimes he is surrounded."
Mourinho is expected to recall defenders Cesar Azpilicueta and Gary Cahill tonight against a side they comfortably beat 4-0 at Stamford Bridge in September, and midfielder Ramires could also start.
The Portuguese last night dismissed claims that young players do not get a fair crack of the whip at Stamford Bridge.
He said: "We have seven players under 21 in the first team squad, and they have made 26 starts - which is a lot."
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