Chelsea manager Jose Mourinho believes England's top clubs are being
handicapped in the Champions League by the illogical scheduling of
Premier League matches.
While many national associations strive to aide their clubs when
they are preparing for high-profile European games, England's elite are
often handed fixture dates and times that appear to hand their rivals an
advantage in the Champions League.
Now Mourinho has called on the
Premier League's decision makers to change their mentality and hand
their clubs more advantages in a bid to bolster European ambitions that
have been floundering in the last couple of seasons.
"Do people not care that English teams are struggling in Europe?"
asked the Chelsea boss. "Why don't they? I care. Television deserves to
be powerful because, without them, nothing would be the same, but there
is space in the calendar that could be filled with communication.
"They
should ask the players if it's the same, having two or three days to
prepare. Ask [Didier] Drogba on Monday: is it the same for him to play
on Friday ahead of the trip to London, or on Saturday with the game
coming up on Tuesday?
"I don’t understand why Galatasaray
can play on Friday [this week] and we have to play on Saturday. If we
played at 7:45 p.m. on a Friday night, it makes a difference to whom?
"Fewer
spectators at Villa Park? I don't think so. It'd still be a full-house
and for television? It wouldn't make a difference. It would be the only
match, so the [ratings] share would be fantastic.
"Would it
be good for English football and for Chelsea? Yes, but I'm trying to
get this for all of us, not just for me. For example, I don't understand
why Manchester City, a team who must come from Europe on Wednesday
night, must play at 12:45 p.m. on Saturday.
"Why did they
have to play Wigan [in the FA Cup quarter-final] on Sunday when
Barcelona had played Saturday and had the extra day [for Wednesday’s
game between the sides]?
"If we must all play on Saturday,
why not play us at 12.45pm and them at 5.30pm? We have an extra 'day’ to
recover, and so would they. I think everyone would agree on that but
there is something in this country that goes outside my understanding. I
don't understand."
No Premier League team progressed to
the quarter-finals of last season's Champions League and there is a
danger the same scenario could transpire as after Arsenal and Manchester
City went out of the competition earlier this week, with Chelsea and
Manchester United facing tricky second-leg last-16 ties against
Galatasaray and Olympiacos next week."
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