Mourinho speaks to Chelsea, Inter fans

Posted Monday, February 20, 2012 by ESPN

Real Madrid coach Jose Mourinho has called on fans of his former sides Chelsea and Inter Milan to get behind their teams and respective managers.

Chelsea coach Andre Villas-Boas and Inter coach Claudio Ranieri are both currently struggling to live up to the legacy left behind by Mourinho at their respective clubs.

The bad feeling surrounding two of Europe's football heavyweights came to a head over the weekend when both sets of supporters could be heard singing for Mourinho's return during Inter's 3-0 loss to Bologna on Friday and Chelsea's 1-1 draw with Birmingham on Saturday.

Mourinho, whose own future at the Bernabeu has come under question in the past, downplayed the significance of the events.

"I love my former sides Inter Milan and Chelsea, and their fans as well," Mourinho told the Real Madrid website.

"I'd rather those fans supported their teams and their coaches rather than me. I'm their past, and a very good one at that, so they remember me.

"I'm no longer there and they should fight together instead of thinking about those who aren't there any more."

The desire for fans of both Inter and Chelsea to see Mourinho back at their clubs is understandable. The Portuguese guided Inter to a famous treble in his last season at the San Siro while he was also the architect of unprecedented success at Stamford Bridge when he was in charge of the Blues.

On Saturday, Mourinho led Real Madrid to a 4-0 win over Racing Santander which leaves them 13 points ahead of rival Barcelona, who play on Sunday, for the race for La Liga this season.

"I like the final score, but what I most like is taking another three points and having one game less to play," Mourinho said.

"We won without much brilliance, but without much effort either."

Sao Paulo goalkeeper Rogerio Ceni recently declared Madrid boss Mourinho as one of the best coaches in football history following a visit to the club's training ground earlier in the week to watch the Portuguese in action.