Jose tells Liverpool: Your best days are in the past - I'm making history now - Sport - Evening Standard
       

Jose tells Liverpool: Your best days are in the past - I'm making history now

Jose Mourinho has taunted Liverpool by claiming it is Chelsea who continue to make history in the English game.

Liverpool have sent Chelsea crashing out of the Champions League at the semi-final stage twice in the last three years and their fans taunt the Londoners by insisting the Blues have no real history.

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The past and the present: Jose Mourinho has reminded Rafael Benitez Liverpool have not won the title since 1990

But while Mourinho accepts they cannot compete with Liverpool's European heritage, he continues to point out that the Merseysiders have not won the English title for 17 years and added that Chelsea made their mark in footballing folklore by winning the first FA Cup at the new Wembley.

Mourinho said: "Liverpool fans can continue to chant 'no history' at us but we continue to make it.

"They have their history, we have our history. They are a club with a history in Europe that Chelsea doesn't have, and their history is magnificent, but I think for 17 years they don't win one championship and we won two in the last three years.

"Of the 12 pieces of silverware in English football in the last three years, Chelsea won six, Liverpool two, Manchester United two and Arsenal two, so we won the same number of pieces of silverware that the other three clubs won all together. So I think we are going in the right direction.

"The FA Cup final was a special final, an historic one, more than a normal FA Cup final. It was also the end of a period when in three years, we won every competition in English football, so it was special.

"In the future a lot of people will do it but I was the first manager to lift the FA Cup at the new Wembley; John Terry was the first captain to lift it and so on.

"At that moment we made history and the way people celebrated was magnificent. A few days later I was in London and I could feel also for the fans the feeling was special. After two Premierships and two Carling Cups before, I think at the moment we won't change this FA Cup for anything."

Injuries to key players like goalkeeper Petr Cech (fractured skull), captain Terry (back and head), Joe Cole (foot) and Arjen Robben (various), robbed Mourinho of the chance to field his best side and use all the options available to him for much of the season.

Chelsea still managed to keep in the hunt for an unprecedented four trophies right up until the end of the season but Mourinho is hoping next season will not be dogged by similar injury problems so that he will be able to use his squad to the full.

He added: "I use the word a lot of times but last season was 'survival'. We want to succeed in competitions, we cannot lose matches.

"The situation of playing with the best team, using the tactical systems not just to get the result but to play at the high level, everything was impossible.

"What I want is solutions in my hands. It is like playing chess and you don't have bishops and horses.

"I want to have everything in my hands to promote competitiveness between our players, promote doubts in the opponents, to give culture to my teams in terms of tactics, to have options in relation to my needs."

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