Chelsea boss Jose Mourinho claimed he will be cheering on title rivals
Manchester City when they take on Tottenham at White Hart Lane on
Wednesday as he has his sights set primarily on sealing a top four
finish in the Premier League this season.
Mourinho continues to insist his ambitions for this campaign are not
focused on winning the title but rather on building a side that will be
capable of competing with the best in the competition next season.
Few believe this serial trophy winner has such moderate ambitions for
the final third of the season, but Mourinho has claimed he is hoping
City will claim all three points at Tottenham.
“I prefer them [City] to win because they win and if we win, we open up
gap to Tottenham,” said Mourinho ahead of his side’s home game against
West Ham.
“If we have a gap of 10 to Tottenham, 12 to United, you have a safe
spot in the Champions League. If you can have a safe spot by February
and play the rest of the season without that pressure, it would be
fantastic for us.
“That’s an objective I don’t want to fail. We cannot fail, because as a
club we need that and as a team we need that too, because we want to
play Champions League.
“As a team it’s very important for the evolution of the team, as a club
it’s very important for financial reasons, for prestigious reasons.
“The top four, if possible the top three, is the big, big, big
objective and it’s a difficult objective. If everybody is there, you go
to the end of the season under big pressure, so for us it will be better
for City to win. Next season I will be speaking differently.”
Mourinho went on to back Eden Hazard’s bold ambitions to join Cristiano Ronaldo and Lionel Messi on the top pedestal of world football in the coming years, as he believes his Belgian midfielder has the ability to achieve such lavish aims.
“If he wants to be a great, great player and arrive where Cristiano and
Messi arrive, he has space to go because he’s 23,” added Mourinho.
“It’s a great ambition for him. What I feel now with him is
responsibility in every aspect.
“Against Man United I saw him make a fantastic tackle inside of our
box, but at the same time against Stoke he was trying to kill the game,
not waiting for things to happen but trying to make things happen. The
kid is going in a fantastic direction.
“Now I say yes [he can reach that level] because his evolution is
great. I think, because of the positions Cristiano and Messi played,
they are also top goalscorer and the number of goals they score makes
them even more special.
“Eden is a winger, a pure winger. Okay, we are giving him freedom to go to other areas, but he’s an attacking winger.”
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