Why Big Phil's just a big softy

He caused outrage while in charge of Brazil for claiming he would never pick a homosexual in his squad and was banned by UEFA for four matches for punching Serbia defender Ivica Dragutinovic during an on-field scuffle in a Euro 2008 qualifier.

The Brazilian is also well known for his belligerent team-talks, stretching the combat analogy still further by occasional resorting to using Sun Tzu's ancient Chinese treatise 'The Art of War' in the build-up to big matches.

Yet new Blues defender Bosingwa, who played for Scolari's Portugal side, believes his macho image is a myth.

"He is a friend to the players and protects them always, which is what you want as a player," he said.

"He always tries to help his squad in any way he can - his door is always open for us to speak to him and he will always talk with you about your personal problems if you need that.

"He is ready to give you time to go home to your own country or town and be with your family if you need that. He wants to be your friend as well as your manager and that is very good."

Bosingwa, who was officially unveiled today following his £16.3m move from Porto, claims Scolari is the perfect man to lead Chelsea to their first Champions League crown. The Blues are still smarting from their near miss last season, when they lost the final on penalties to Manchester United.

Former manager Avram Grant paid for that failure with his job but Bosingwa, who won the 2004 Champions League with Jose Mourinho's Porto, does not expect Scolari to suffer the same fate. Instead, he believes the 59-year-old - who won the World Cup with Brazil in 2002 and reached the final of Euro 2004 with Portugal - will handle the expectation at Stamford Bridge.

"As a coach, his CV speaks for itself," he said. "He has won everything there is to win with Brazil and with clubs as well, and was excellent with Portugal.

"We have a chance to win all the competitions and that is our goal. All we can do is keep working hard and do our best and we will have a good opportunity for that. The Champions League is obviously a very good trophy to win and it would be great to do it for the first time, but I would not say that it is the one we must win this season. We want to win everything."

Bosingwa's immediate task is to establish himself ahead of compatriot Paolo Ferreira and Brazilian Juliano Belletti, players who are also well known to Scolari.

But the Congo-born right-back - who ousted Ferreira from his favoured position in the Portugal team last year - has no fears about be able to make his mark on the Premier League.

"I will keep working as hard as I've done for Porto and hopefully that will give me a chance to get into the first team," said the 25-year-old. "I spoke to Cristiano Ronaldo about English football when we were together at Euro 2008 and he said it was very competitive and much faster than other countries' games. He said everyone was very professional in the sense that everyone works that much harder here."

Bosingwa is good friends with Ronaldo, but if Scolari hoped his new recruit would use his position to give the United winger a nudge towards Real Madrid, he was disappointed.

"That is a decision that Cristiano must make,"Bosingwa added. "He is an adult who can decide for himself - it's down to him."