Inter manager Jose Mourinho does not believe that his inside knowledge of Chelsea will give him an advantage ahead of their Champions League tie.
Mourinho, who had a successful spell at Stamford Bridge from 2004 to 2007, said: “I know Chelsea well but that doesn’t mean it’s any easier.
“Sometimes it’s more difficult when you know so much about the team.
“If you don’t decide what’s the right information to give new players about old players, you can get into trouble.”
The Portuguese gave the example of his his Champions League encounters against his former club Porto in 2004-5.
“It [Porto] was my team, my players and I knew everything about them, but it was not easy,” said Mourinho.
“We won one game and lost the other one.”
Mourinho also believes that Blues boss, Carlo Ancelotti’s familiarity with Italian football,will benefit Chelsea tonight.
“He knows Inter very well, and has worked all his life in Italian football and played against Inter a dozen times,” said Mourinho.
“I think he knows everything about us, everything about our players, but I don’t think it’s an advantage at all.”
He predicted that the last-16 tie would not be decided by a big win in Wednesday’s first leg.
“I don’t remember seeing a game involving Chelsea and them going on the field to defend, or not to win, or to play for a 0-0,” said Mourinho.
“Inter are the same. It’s a game which could be 180 minutes, but it may even be 30 minutes more.”
Ancelotti, who moved from Milan to Stamford Bridge last May, said off-the-field problems involving some of his players would not distract him from tonight’s task.
“I will respect Inter Milan like I always have in the past,” he added.
“We respect them, but to beat them we need to play at 100%. But if they want to beat us they will also have to play at 100%.”
The Italian also denied that he had claimed every neutral fan in Italy would be supporting Chelsea against Inter.
“I never said this,” he stated, adding: “I think Wednesday’s game will be very even with two strong teams and it will be a great battle.”
