Mourinho proud of Inter after ousting his old side

Samuel Eto'o scored the second-half goal which gave Inter a 1-0 victory at Stamford Bridge and a 3-1 aggregate triumph over Mourinho's former players. To make things worse for Chelsea, Didier Drogba was sent off for kicking out at Thiago Motta late on. But, while it must have been a sweet victory for Mourinho, after having being axed by owner Roman Abramovich after winning two Premier League titles, the former Chelsea manager tried to play down its significance.

He said: "It's a victory as a group and a very important one for me as a coach, but not the victory of my life. That will be in the future. I'm so happy because of the way my team played. It was difficult for me to come here as an enemy where my 'home' is, here at Chelsea.

"Yesterday someone asked me if I would still be special if I lost here. Today I'm not so special for Chelsea supporters who will probably never forgive me."

Mourinho, however, denied Chelsea's defeat meant that Abramovich was further away than ever from winning his priority of the Champions League.

He said: "Roman is a very intelligent person and, because of that, he's not the same person today that he was one year ago, two years, three years, five years ago. Not the same person he was when he arrived in football.

"Probably he thought it would be easy (to win the Champions League) when he arrived in football. It's not easy. It's difficult.

"He knows it's not easy. He knows his team lost against a team who deserved to win. I'm sure that he accepts the situation with fairness and class because he'll know that Inter were the best team."

It was a sentiment Chelsea boss Carlo Ancelotti agreed with. He said: "Inter deserved to win. We were never in control. Inter put us under a lot of pressure and were dangerous on the break. There were only short periods when we could control it."

Ancelotti refused to criticise German referee Wolfgang Stark despite having two penalty claims turned down against Drogba.

He also admitted that he would come under increased pressure considering the Champions League was Abramovich's priority this season.

Chelsea are still in second place in the Premier League behind Manchester United and in the semi-finals of the FA Cup.

Ancelotti said: "We have to be strong and have control of our emotions. Maybe the defeat could be very good motivation for the next games. It is normal that the manager comes under more pressure if he loses a few matches."