Jose Mourinho has defended Chelsea over allegations of 74 rule breaches involving payments to agents between 2009 and 2022.
Mourinho, who had two separate spells in charge of the Blues, returns to Stamford Bridge with Benfica for Tuesday’s Champions League game.
The Portuguese replaced Bruno Lage as Benfica head coach earlier this month after being dismissed by Fenerbahce.
Mourinho was asked about the recent FA investigation against Chelsea, but he said he is not aware of the charges facing his former club.
‘I am the biggest one’
Mourinho famously called himself ‘the special one’ in his first press conference as Chelsea boss in 2004.
The Portuguese has now dubbed himself as ‘the biggest one’ as he reflected on his record-breaking history with the Premier League outfit.
“Chelsea is a winning machine that had in the past two or three years a moment without trophies,” Mourinho said in his pre-match press conference.
“But Chelsea won something before my time and then we start winning and then my team kept winning and then a transformation of new teams, new coaches, more trophies, European trophies, the biggest one and the Champions League. So Chelsea is a winning machine. I am the biggest one until someone wins four.”
Mourinho’s Benfica face Chelsea at a time when they are massively struggling for form, having lost three of their previous four games in all competitions.
Following defeats to Bayern Munich and Manchester United, Enzo Maresca’s side emerged victorious at the expense of Lincoln City in the Carabao Cup.
But the West Londoners slumped to a 3-1 loss to Brighton & Hove Albion at the weekend, with the Seagulls scoring three late goals following Trevoh Chalobah’s red card.
The situation is quite different for Benfica who has seen a revival since Mourinho’s return to the Primeira Liga outfit.
The Portuguese has overseen two wins and a draw from his first three matches in charge, including a 2-1 comeback victory against Gil Vicente last weekend.
However, Chelsea are expected to prevail on Tuesday given their superior squad quality and the fact they will be playing in front of their home crowd.
