Jose Mourinho press-conference: “Everything is Balanced after first leg”

Ahead of tomorrow’s crunch second leg encounter between Jose Mourinho’s Chelsea and Didier Drogba’s Galatasaray, the Portuguese boss has made his press conference on Monday after noon. Jose mentioned how much the tie is balanced at the moment and also another hot topic ahead of the game, King Didier’s return to Stamford bridge.

The Special one said of how the Ivorian striker is still one of the deadliest strikers in the world even at the age of 35. And also mentioned how the Chelsea legend voted for by the fans in 2012 as the best Chelsea player in the history of the club, may return to Stamford bridge one day.

First off was questions about tomorrow’s tie and where the Blues stand to qualifying to the last 8 of the champions league. Jose Mourinho said the tie is very much balanced as he refused to let the away goal of Fernando Torres in Istanbul will have much advantage for the home side.

‘If you look at the result, it’s 1-1,’ he said. ‘You look at the first game, one team was better in the first half and another was better in the second, so everything is balanced. Normally it will be the same kind of match with the result going to the end. I don’t think one team will make a result whereby people at half-time know who is going to win.’

Secondly, speaking about Didier Drogba’s special return to a stadium he called home for 8 years, he mentioned how emotional and sweet return it will be for the Ivorian legend of the club.

‘He’s one of the most important players in the history of this club, that’s in no doubt,‘ said the Portuguese.

‘All Chelsea fans would agree with that. You can’t say he’s the most important one because that’s not fair on other people. Is he the same player at 36 than he was at 26? Nobody is, but he’s one of the best strikers in the world, that’s for sure.’

He also mentioned how it is natural that, like he did last summer himself, someone special like him to Chelsea should return to Stamford Bridge one day. That question might answer Drogba’s recent rumored return to Chelsea this summer as a player and then after retirement, as a striker coach in Mourinho’s back room staff.

‘The important thing is that it’s not me, it’s Chelsea, and it has to happen one day. When a person represents so much to a club, and a club represents so much to a person, and that is the case, I think he has to come back.’

But, lastly, he spoke of Turkish clubs’ salary paying for star players and how they aren’t complying with Financial Fair Play rules. He also talked about how we have to move on after the disappointing refereeing in Last Saturday’s game against Aston Villa at Villa Park and how that might affect his team’s display tomorrow.

‘I like lots of them but I don’t think about them,’ he said. ‘Turkish football pays a lot to the players, sometimes it looks like Financial Fair Play doesn’t work there, and we can’t compete with the salaries. I have an eye, I know them all and there are some good players.’