Jose Mourinho under pressure (again) ahead of Chelsea's £40m Champions League clash

Jose Mourinho is under huge pressure to get a result against Porto in the Champions League

JOSE MOURINHO faces the task of lifting a shattered squad for the most important game of his Chelsea career on Wednesday.

 

Mourinho took training yesterday as usual but is under huge pressure to get a result on Wednesday, when Chelsea need a draw against his old club Porto to progress to the knockout stages of the Champions League.

If Chelsea go out there would be enormous pressure on Mourinho, who saw his side slip to a new low on Saturday as they crashed 1-0 at home to newly promoted Bournemouth in their eighth loss of the season.

 

Missing out on the later stages of the Champions League could cost the club around £40million, and with Mourinho's admission that after the Bournemouth result the top four may be out reach, owner Roman Abramovich's patience would possibly be tested too far.

Chelsea will spend in January, despite Mourinho's insistence on Saturday that he will not go to the board and ask for reinforcements.

 

There is recognition at Stamford Bridge that the squad does need to be strengthened and two players high on Chelsea's radar are the £30million Shakhtar Donetsk forward Alex Teixeira, and West Brom striker Saido Berahino. Napoli's Gonzalo Higuain could also be an option.

Mourinho is involved in that planning at the moment, but Chelsea will still spend even if he is gone before the January transfer window opens.

Another target is Everton's England defender John Stones, who they tried and failed to get several times in the summer.

One boost for the beleaguered manager is that skipper John Terry should have recovered from an ankle injury picked up in the Champions League win against Maccabi Tel Aviv to play against Porto.