Jose Mourinho cuts press conference short after being angered by questions about Kevin de Bruyne

It's understood the Belgian youngster has been asked to train with the Under-21s

Matt McGeehan
Tuesday 01 October 2013 04:06 EDT
Comments
Jose Mourinho defended his decision to alter the style of play by the Chelsea team in recent years
Jose Mourinho defended his decision to alter the style of play by the Chelsea team in recent years (GETTY IMAGES)

Your support helps us to tell the story

From reproductive rights to climate change to Big Tech, The Independent is on the ground when the story is developing. Whether it's investigating the financials of Elon Musk's pro-Trump PAC or producing our latest documentary, 'The A Word', which shines a light on the American women fighting for reproductive rights, we know how important it is to parse out the facts from the messaging.

At such a critical moment in US history, we need reporters on the ground. Your donation allows us to keep sending journalists to speak to both sides of the story.

The Independent is trusted by Americans across the entire political spectrum. And unlike many other quality news outlets, we choose not to lock Americans out of our reporting and analysis with paywalls. We believe quality journalism should be available to everyone, paid for by those who can afford it.

Your support makes all the difference.

Chelsea manager Jose Mourinho was in no mood for hanging around on the eve of the must win Champions League Group E clash with Steaua Bucharest.

Mourinho's mood imitated the stormy weather in the Romanian capital as the Portuguese shortened his pre-match media conference to stride out to oversee the final training session under the roof at the National Arena.

The self-proclaimed Special One declared himself the Happy One on his return to Stamford Bridge and he has been accommodating, jovial and cordial at his pre-match inquisitions thus far.

But with the Blues looking to bounce back from the opening round loss at home to Basle, Mourinho showed the first signs of strain in taking exception to a question about absent forward Kevin de Bruyne.

With Juan Mata told he will start in Bucharest after beginning the season as a peripheral figure, De Bruyne was told he was not required and was left at home alongside his fellow Belgian Eden Hazard, who has an ankle injury.

"This is fantastic because nobody asks me about Mata," Mourinho said.

"You are for three weeks speaking about Mata, and now you are speaking about Kevin de Bruyne.

"So you are not interested in the players that are playing? You are interested in the players that are not playing.

"He was not selected. It was my decision. Only 11 can play and 18 can be selected.

"I try to decide by what they do on the pitch when they play and what they do in training.

"I try to be honest with Juan and say that he's going to play tomorrow, because of what he did in training and because of what he did in the matches he played.

"With Kevin it's the same. He's not selected because I didn't like the match he played against Swindon and I didn't like the way he was training.

"But you have this tendency to only ask about the guys that are not selected.

"See you tomorrow."

PA

Join our commenting forum

Join thought-provoking conversations, follow other Independent readers and see their replies

Comments

Thank you for registering

Please refresh the page or navigate to another page on the site to be automatically logged inPlease refresh your browser to be logged in