Jose Mourinho: Chelsea fans will never forgive me for knock-out blow

Samuel Eto'o scored the second-half goal which gave Inter a 1-0 victory at Stamford Bridge and a 3-1 aggregate triumph over Mourinho's former players.

To make things worse for Chelsea, Didier Drogba was sent off for kicking out at Thiago Motta late on.

But, while it must have been a sweet victory for Mourinho, after having being axed by owner Roman Abramovich after winning two Premier League titles, the former Chelsea boss tried to play down its significance.

He said: "It's a victory as a group and a very important one for me as a coach, but not the victory of my life. That will be in the future.

"I'm so happy because of the way my team played. It was difficult for me to come here as an enemy where my 'home' is, here at Chelsea.

"Yesterday someone asked me if I would still be special if I lost here. Today I'm not so special for Chelsea supporters who will probably never forgive me."

Mourinho, however, denied Chelsea's defeat meant that Abramovich was further away than ever from winning his priority of the Champions League.

He said: "Roman is a very intelligent person and, because of that, he's not the same person today than he was one year ago, two years, three years, five years ago. Not the same person he was when he arrived in football.

"Probably he thought it would be easy (to win the Champions League) when he arrived in football. It's not easy. It's difficult.

"He knows it's not easy. He knows now how to read a game, understand the game, analyse the game, and knows his team lost against a team who deserved to win. Because he's a man of fair play.

"I'm sure that he accepts the situation with fairness and class because he'll know that Inter were the best team."

It was a sentiment Chelsea boss Carlo Ancelotti was quick to endorse.

He said: "Inter deserved to win. We are very sorry but this is the reality. We were never in control.

"Inter put us under a lot of pressure and were dangerous on the break. There were only short periods when we could control it."

Ancelotti refused to criticise German referee Wolfgang Stark despite having two penalty claims turned down against Drogba.

He also admitted that he would come under increased pressure considering the Champions League was Abramovich's priority this season.

Chelsea are still in second place in the Premier League behind Manchester United and in the semi-finals of the FA Cup.

Ancelotti said: "We have to be strong and have control of our emotions. Maybe the defeat could be very good motivation for the next games.

"I've worked a long time in this environment and it is normal that the manager comes under more pressure if he loses a few matches."

Mourinho put the victory down to tactical astuteness, surprising Chelsea with an attacking line-up of three strikers in Eto'o, Diego Milito and Goran Pandev, with Wesley Snejider in the space just behind them.

He explained: "I thought about my period at Chelsea and thought it impossible to get a 0-0 here playing a defensive game.

"When I was Chelsea manager I remember one game against Manchester City, I remember David James looked like Yashin, making so many saves.

"But I planned. I believed (Branislav) Ivanovic and (Yuri) Zhirkov didn't play well either in attack or defence and that created some doubts in them.

"We didn't play a defensive game, we controlled the match, and we deserved to win."