When Jose Mourinho landed in Paris for his first European game
as Chelsea manager, nearly 10 years ago, the rules were very different.
Or, as he pointed out on Tuesday night, there weren’t any.
But for the odd toot of dissent from Arsene Wenger, Roman Abramovich
was free to spend his millions on whatever he pleased and the team he
built has endured at the top.
They may have been humbled at the Palace four days ago but Chelsea
are in the Parc de Princes attempting to extend a proud record and reach
the last four of the Champions League for the seventh time in 11
years.
Talent: Chelsea have built a squad full of world-class stars courtesy of Roman Abramovich's millions
Solid defence: Petr Cech shows off his skills as John Terry closes him down during training
A team built to last: Chelsea owner Abramovich has been free to spend his millions at Stamford Bridge
Back then: Jose Mourinho checks his notes in Paris during his first European game in charge of Chelsea
In their way stand Paris Saint-Germain, representing European
football’s newest nouveaux riche, having splurged more than £300m on
players in a three-year period and Mourinho’s tune has changed.
'When Mr Abramovich bought the club, he was ready and keen and the
football rules were open to that,’ said the Chelsea manager. ‘It was
probably the most important investment in that period and, as a
consequence, Chelsea built some of the best teams in Europe. Paris are
doing the same.
'Some people don’t understand very well how because it looks like the
Financial Fair Play is going to be in practice, but the reality is that
the investment in the last two years has been massive.’
Mourinho has been grumbling for months, without a trace of irony,
that clubs such as PSG and Manchester City have launched extravagant
recruitment projects while avoiding eye-contact with UEFA’s FFP
regulations, designed to encourage clubs to balance the books and live
within their means.
'We play by FFP,’ said Mourinho, confirming that Chelsea cannot
compete in the transfer market with PSG, who blew them out of the race
for Edinson Cavani last summer by paying £54million.
Thinking game: Mourinho will need to get his tactics spot on in Paris if Chelsea are to stand any chance
'I don’t know if we’re leading FFP or not but we’re clearly one of
the teams working under these rules and respecting them,’ he added.
‘That makes us think about our football in a different way.’
The PSG project has Chelsea threads running through it. They have
adopted similar tactics to Abramovich since May 2011, when Qatar Sports
Investments (QSI), the sporting arm of the Qatar Investment Authority
(QIA), the sovereign wealth fund for the Qatari government - established
to reinvest the profit from oil and gas - bought 70 per cent of the
club for an estimated £42m.
They appointed Carlo Ancelotti, seven months after he left Chelsea,
and he brought a back-room team who worked with him in London. Paul
Clement and Jack Nayler have moved with him to Real Madrid. Nutritionist
Nick Broad was killed in a road accident in Paris.
New kids on the block: Paris Saint-Germain are the newest nouveaux riche and have bought a host of stars
Claude Makelele is still there as Laurent Blanc’s assistant and
former Chelsea centre half Alex has forged a good defensive
understanding with fellow Brazilian Thiago Silva.
Mourinho hailed the influence of former sporting director Leonardo,
who lured the best of Serie A to France. Silva, Cavani, Marco Verratti,
Ezequiel Lavezzi, Thiago Motta and Zlatan Ibrahimovic have all come from
Italy.
'The choice of players has been fantastic,’ said Mourinho. ‘The team
is full of very good players; the coach is good; the passion in this
city is good; Parc des Princes is always a beautiful place to play.’
Confused? Zlatan Ibrahimovic scratches his head as PSG prepare for the biggest game of their season
Big match players: PSG skipper Thiago Silva speaks to Ibrahimovic during PSG's session
Ibrahimovic warned that PSG had a ‘stronger collective’ than last
year, when beaten at this stage of the competition by Barcelona. QSI
bought the rest of PSG in 2012 and last season the club won their third
French title. When club president Nasser Al-Khelaifi unveiled his
five-year plan, he said they expected to challenge for the Champions
League within three years, which is this year.
Whether it is ‘fair’ remains a moot point. A four-year partnership
with the Qatar Tourist Authority, worth up to £168m a year, which
offsets the transfer fees and salaries, has attracted great controversy.
Manchester City struck a similar deal with Abu Dhabi airline Etihad,
but that was worth £350m over 10 years and at least Etihad got shirt,
stadium and training ground sponsorship in return.
Backing: Airline Etihad got shirt, stadium and training ground sponsorship when striking a deal with Man City
The Qatar Tourist Authority receives none of those perks for their millions, but all that will be irrelevant on Wednesday night.
Blanc promises his usual cavalier style and Mourinho, who won 3-0
when he came with Chelsea in 2004, feigned shock when he realised the
interpreter at last night’s press conference had scribbled out his
likely team.
'He did the team,’ said the Chelsea boss, snatching the scrap of
paper. ‘Cech, Ivanovic, Terry, Cahill, Azpilicueta,’ he read aloud,
nodded, grinned, screwed it into a ball and threw it away.
