Thursday, May 1, 2014

Over-cautious Mourinho stood up on date with destiny

Chelsea's coach Mourinho reacts during their Champions League semi-final second leg soccer match against Atletico at Stamford Bridge in London By Mike Collett LONDON (Reuters) - The stage had appeared set for Jose Mourinho to return to his native Lisbon, beat former side Real Madrid and become the first man to lift the European Cup with three different clubs - except Atletico Madrid had other ideas. Beaten at his own counter-attacking game by Argentine counterpart Diego Simeone, Mourinho's blue wall buckled then crumbled under the weight of Atletico power and precision in a superbly crafted 3-1 win at Stamford Bridge on Wednesday. The Champions League semi-final defeat could be put down to Chelsea's inability to get an away goal in last week's 0-0 stalemate in Spain, but while Europe looks forward to a Madrid derby on May 24, Mourinho was left to rue his tactical choices. Mourinho, who famously called himself "The Special One" when he first arrived at Chelsea a decade ago, was mockingly dubbed "The Semi-Final One" by Spanish newspaper Marca after a fourth successive failure at this stage of the competition.








via Sports News Headlines - Yahoo News UK http://ift.tt/1iGEXbq

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