LONDON: Jose Mourinho has confirmed Juan Mata will start in Chelsea’s League Cup tie at Swindon in midweek after being left out of the matchday squad for Saturday’s victory over Fulham.
Mata, the club’s player of the year in successive seasons, was sat behind the dugout for the 2-0 win in the Premier League, with Oscar and John Mikel Obi getting the goals.
The Spaniard took part in a training session on the morning of the game and his next appearance will be in tomorrow’s clash at the County Ground for his team’s third-round tie against League One opposition.
Mourinho said: “He took it the way I wanted. He trained in the morning and my assistant told me he trained very very hard.
“He plays from the beginning against Swindon like the players who didn’t play in this match.
“I hope he tells me on the pitch ‘you are wrong, I am the best and I have to play in every game’. I would love that.”
Victory took Chelsea to the Premier League summit before kick-off in yesterday’s games, and it also ended a run of four matches without a victory.
“We played a very good game against Everton and lost so the way we play is not important, the important thing is that we lost,” said Mourinho.
“The most important thing is the result.”
Mourinho was also embroiled in a post-match row with Sky Sports pundit Ruud Gullit, with the ex-Chelsea manager criticising his old team during the interval for a lack of creativity.
“Ruud Gullit is a different pundit as he was also a manager and he should not be a very proud manager for what he did in the last years,” Mourinho said after the match
The Chelsea coached added: “It’s a great job (being a pundit), an important job to make the people at home understand football, read the game and analyse.
“England is full of good pundits and that is no problem -- I respect opinions.”
“My job is more difficult. It is more difficult to be a manager than a commentator,” added Mourinho. AFP
