A deflated Jose Mourinho didn’t take long to look ahead to next season following his side’s exit from the Champions League at the hands of Liverpool.
The Portuguese coach said he would be back at work Wednesday planning the new season.
“It’s a pity we won’t be playing the final especially for my players,” Mourinho said.
“My players are heroes, for sure. They did what nobody has done in this club for 50 years.”
“Out of four this season they won two, so next year out of five we will try to get two or three,” Mourinho said.
The former Porto coach seemed to accept that his team had run out of ideas in recent weeks.
With several players, including wingers Damien Duff and Arjen Robben plus full-backs Paulo Ferreira and Wayne Bridge, injured, Chelsea looked a pale shadow of the side which had dominated English football this season.
“It was difficult to play with the players we had,” Mourinho said. “We had no different qualities to put on the field.”
Robben did appear with 20 minutes remaining but his impact was negligible, while fellow summer signings Didier Drogba and Mateja Kezman produced little of note on the night.
Mourinho had suggested that he was only interested in signing a left-back and a central midfielder in the summer, but with Chelsea’s attack looking increasingly pedestrian in recent weeks, he may be tempted to invest some of owner Roman Abrampovich’s millions in a creative attacking force.
Inter’s Adriano is one played linked with a move to Stamford Bridge and Chelsea may also be tempted to break the bank for fellow Brazilian Robinho.
