Mikel John Obi has warned his Chelsea teammates of the influence Jose Mourinho wields ahead of Sunday’s big English Premier League clash against Manchester United.
The Nigeria captain was in the Chelsea team beaten 1-0 by Mourinho’s Inter Milan in the last 16 of the Champions League six years ago when they were knocked out of the competition.
Mourinho used the build-up to that tie to make flattering comments about his former players and the club and is expected to do so again now.
The Super Eagles captain admits Mourinho’s behaviour last time affected the team and says the current generation must not make the same mistake.
“We have to put the fact we are playing against Jose to the back of our minds from the moment we are on the pitch. Naija and bet
“He is a legend of the club, had two spells in charge and won trophies. But we must ignore that.
“It has to be a different story to the last time against Inter. I remember he had a lot of nice things to say about us in the pre-match press conference back then,” Mikel was quoted as saying by the Standard.
Mikel then revealed that Mourinho displayed different personalities before and during that fateful game against Inter.
“Then when we walked out to warm up for the match, he was at the end of the tunnel looking at everyone and giving them a friendly slap on the cheek.
“He was friendly and we had a bit of a laugh and a chat. But throughout the game he was animated on the touchline, shouting instructions to the Inter players.
“It just shows how the guy works — he loved Chelsea but wanted to beat us that night,” he said.
Mourinho is Chelsea’s most successful manager, winning seven trophies in two spells.
