The Special One is back in town

It probably says more about the dominance of English football in the Champions League as opposed to the inevitable kismet of life that Jose Mourinho will once again be back in England this season. Jose Mourinho’s Inter Milan were unable to face group rivals Barcelona or fellow Italian club Fiorentina, leaving six teams available, half of which were English.

The Stamford Bridge return will come in the second leg of the last 16 of the Champions League and there will be no doubt at the reception the Chelsea fans offers the Special One. The past few days has seen Avram Grant be warmly welcomed back by the Chelsea fans and for all his hard work, he was unable to bring the trophies that they craved.

Mourinho was something else.

The money was in place and Claudio Ranieri had laid the foundations for a Chelsea team to be involved at the top of the table.

Jose was the man to bring it all together though as his swashbuckling side with Arjen Robben (a Ranieri signing, as was Petr Cech) and Damien Duff on either flank tore teams apart. It can be easy to forget that Mourinho’s first Chelsea team were exciting to watch because their flair diminished to be replaced with a relentless grinding of results.

This is not a new situation for Mourinho, who faced his former club Porto whilst in charge in the Kings Road. The manager held the upper hand over his former team then but it is hard to see he achieving the same feat again this time.

Yes, Inter Milan are the best team in Italy.

This has not quite fallen to a ranking of “the best dressed man in Albania” but Italian football is not at the top of European football anymore and Chelsea will fancy their chances. There would have been easier teams for Chelsea to face but it is certainly not an impossible task.

And for all that Jose Mourinho will know what he is coming back to face, Inter Milan are not going to pose any surprises for Carlos Ancelloti. The ex-AC Milan boss would have been as close to Inter as is humanly possible given the ground sharing situation in Italy but this time around, he will have a younger squad to work with.

Mind you, The Rolling Stones have probably got a younger squad to work with at the moment when compared to AC Milan.

The other beneficiaries of the draw will be the English media who will be hanging on Jose’s every word and having his soundbites filling every page from here until March. That’s the sort of information that sells papers or pushes online content, so there will be one or two editors rubbing their hands with glee.

And yes, it is why he have decided to run with a full article about the match even though they are two months away. Consider it the effect of the special one.

Of course, if Mourinho walks or gets sacked at any point between now and the games actually taking place, this article will have been a complete waste of time. We’ve written it, you’ve read it and for that, we apologise! Although, he may well be installed at Anfield or Eastlands if they clubs current run of continues!

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