SOCCER-CHAMPIONS-DYK-CHL/MOURINHO Chelsea look for victory against Dynamo Kiev in Champions League

Record ID: 135611

  • Title: SOCCER-CHAMPIONS-DYK-CHL/MOURINHO Chelsea look for victory against Dynamo Kiev in Champions League
  • Date: 19th October 2015
  • Summary: KIEV, UKRAINE (OCTOBER 19, 2015) (REUTERS) CHELSEA MANAGER JOSE MOURINHO ARRIVING AT NEWS CONFERENCE JOURNALISTS AT NEWS CONFERENCE (SOUNDBITE) (English) CHELSEA COACH, JOSE MOURINHO, SAYING: "We need to win matches, we need to win matches in the Premier League, we need to improve our position, we need to win points in the Champions League to qualify, so that's what we nee
  • Embargoed: 3rd November 2015 12:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: Ukraine
  • Country: Ukraine
  • Topics: General
  • Reuters ID: LVAD3BHEVTDV78CV2ZVPL6X9CET0
  • Aspect Ratio: 16:9
  • Story Text: Chelsea enjoyed a somewhat fortuitous return to winning ways at the weekend when they beat Aston Villa in the Premier League but their fragile self-confidence will face a far more severe test at Dynamo Kiev in the Champions League on Tuesday (October 20).
    After their worst start to a domestic league season for 37 years, Jose Mourinho's men travel to Ukraine for their Group G qualifier having won one and lost one of their two games.
    Dynamo top the group with four points, the same as Porto, followed by Chelsea on three and Maccabi Tel Aviv on zero.
    "We need to win matches, we need to win matches in the Premier League, we need to improve our position, we need to win points in the Champions League to qualify, so that's what we need - to improve the results," Mourinho told reporters on Monday (October 19).
    Mourinho is in Kiev for the second time in less than two weeks after watching Spain beat Ukraine 1-0 in the Olimpiysky Stadium on Oct. 12 where he would have taken note of the threat posed by Kiev striker Andriy Yarmolenko.
    The Portuguese tactician denied he is eyeing Yarmolenko as a transfer target.
    "I don't like to speak about the players I play against because if I speak bad, I motivate them, if I speak well, I motivate them. So I really don't like to speak. What I want to say is when people start some rumours, they have to think a little bit before the rumour. Why? Because when Chelsea has Pedro, (Eden) Hazard, Willian, Kenedy, (Bertrand) Traore and (Juan) Cuadrado, Viktor Moses, (Mohamed) Salah. We cannot make a collection of wingers, so when people want to make some rumours, they have to find players in positions where we don't have so many," Mourinho said, referring to current players in his squad and others who Chelsea have put out on loan.
    Mourinho has now won a total of 200 games with Chelsea, but he said he had not noticed this until someone told him.
    "If I can have 100 more victories, 200 more, 300 more, let's go one by one and let's try tomorrow for 201," he said.
    A win against Kiev will not only help swing the initiative in the group Chelsea's way, but also prove they may be getting back on track after their below-par campaign so far.
    Whether they can retain their Premier League title after taking just 11 points from their opening nine matches, let alone reach the latter stages of the Champions League, is doubtful.
    While Chelsea ended a run of two straight defeats -- to Porto in the Champions League and Southampton in the Premier League -- Dynamo lost for the first time in the league this season on Friday (October 16).
    They were beaten 3-0 at home by rivals Shakhtar Donetsk who replaced them at the top of the Ukrainian standings on goal difference.
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