Jose Mourinho declares self Chelsea's 'biggest' manager ahead of Champions League clash | OneFootball

The Portuguese returns to Stamford Bridge as Benfica’s head coach

Your matchday briefing on Chelsea, featuring team news and expert analysis from Dom Smith

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Mourinho is back at Stamford Bridge on Tuesday night as he brings his Benfica side to west London.

The Portuguese boss was hugely successful during his two spells in charge of Chelsea, winning three Premier League titles, three League Cups and the FA Cup.

Back in 2017, when Mourinho returned to Stamford Bridge as the manager of Manchester United, he claimed “‘Judas’ is No1” until a Chelsea manager eclipsed his record of three league titles.

And Mourinho has doubled down on that, pointing out how he still holds that title as he once again prepares to face his old club.

“I’m the biggest one until someone wins four,” he said.

“Chelsea is a winning machine that had in the past two or years a moment without trophies.

“But Chelsea won something before my time and then we start winning and then my team kept winning and then a transformation of new teams, new coaches, more trophies, European trophies, the biggest one and the Champions League. So Chelsea is a winning machine.”

Mourinho is not expecting to be booed by Chelsea fans on Tuesday - “at least on the street, they are the ones that disturb me for pictures and autographs” - and he is expected to get a good reception.

He addressed the media on Monday night from one of the suites at Stamford Bridge, where photographs from his three Premier League triumphs adorned the walls.

“In relation to these pictures, there are not many clubs that do this, because in many, many clubs it looks like there is a fear of what happened in the past and there is a continuous transformation of pictures,” he said.

“Sometimes it looks like they want to delete people that made history in the clubs.

“Of course, I will always be a Blue. I am part of their history and they are part of my history. I helped them to become a bigger Chelsea and they helped me to become a bigger Jose.

“When I say I am not a Blue, I hope everybody understands that I am speaking about the job that I have to do tomorrow.”