Mourinho warns Chelsea they are not ‘untouchables’

Jose Mourinho says none of his Chelsea players are untouchable. The manager memorably described the nucleus of his first Chelsea side as permanent names on the teamsheet, but believes his underperforming players are short of that status this term.

Jose Mourinho won the Champions League with Porto in 2003 and admitted it was emotional to be featured in the clubs museum

“Untouchables in football, only consistency can give you that status,” said Mourinho, whose champions are 15th in the Premier League after two wins in the opening seven games.

“You have to be a fantastic player, but you have to be consistent.

“In this moment we have fantastic players, the players that gave us the title last season. But football is about today, it’s not about yesterday. In football you have to be consistent in your performance, in your emotion.

“To be a winner you don’t need to win all the time, but to be a winner you must have a strong mentality every game, every day. At this moment I don’t have untouchables.”

Chelsea have Diego Costa available for toight’s Champions League Group G clash at Porto, Mourinho’s former club, with the striker in the middle of a three-match domestic ban.

Mourinho lauded Costa’s performance in the win over Arsenal, when the Brazil-born Spain striker was a nuisance and retrospectively banned for grappling with Laurent Koscielny.

Asked if he would like 11 players to show the same desire as Costa, Mourinho said: “I think we would lose every game because the desire to suspend him is so big that we wouldn’t have players to start the game.

“I’m happy to have only one and let him play until they decide to suspend him again.”

It is not the first time Mourinho has returned to Porto, whom he guided to the 2003 Uefa Cup and the 2004 Champions League titles but he is honoured to feature in the Portuguese club’s museum.

Mourinho visited the museum prior to undertaking his media duties. It reminded him of his affinity to Porto, which he must put to one side on tonight.

“As a museum it’s amazing. Absolutely amazing,” he added.

“When you are lucky to be part of it, when you are not just a simple visitor, you are somebody that did something that deserves to be part of that museum, it’s very emotional.

“You realise that you did something important, something time will not delete.”