Jose Mourinho insists Chelsea will show no fear when they dive into the shark infested waters of the Champions League last 16.
Mourinho’s side got back on track with a 3-1 win over Sporting Lisbon in their Group G finale at Stamford Bridge on Wednesday to erase the bitter taste of their first defeat of the season at Newcastle United last weekend.
As group winners, Chelsea will be pitted against one of big-spending French club Paris Saint Germain, Italian champions Juventus, Swiss side FC Basel, Germany’s Bayer Leverkusen or Shakhtar Donetsk of Ukraine in Monday’s draw for the knockout stages of Europe’s elite club competition.
Mourinho knows taking on PSG or Juventus would be a tough test for the Premier League leaders, while the Portuguese is also well aware of the qualities of Basel, who knocked out Liverpool this season and beat Chelsea twice in the group stages last term.
But there was no chance of a feisty competitor like Mourinho voicing any concerns about the dangers lying in wait for his team as they try to improve on last season’s semi-final exit.
Asked how he felt about the impending draw, Mourinho produced a typically memorable response as he suggested he would have no problem taking on Zlatan Ibrahimovic and the rest of the expensively assembled Paris squad.
“I like swimming with sharks – in a cage, I did it in French Polynesia. I didn’t want to do it, but my wife and kids pushed me,” he said.
“The draw is the draw. We have five possible opponents.
“I think Paris would be good because it is easy to travel for us and the fans. But we can’t decide.
“Everyone is hard. You think Basel is easy? We lost twice to them last year and they beat Liverpool this season and Manchester United a few years ago.
“Leverkusen is a German team, Shakhtar? I don’t think there is an easy team at this moment.”
Mourinho’s men scored 17 goals in their six group fixtures – more than any other team in this season’s tournament – but the Chelsea coach acknowledges the challenges standing between him and the third Champions League title of his career will get much sterner from now on.
“I don’t think any of the big teams are out of the Champions League. Maybe Liverpool. But all the teams that want to win the competition are there and season after season it is the same,” he said.
“I used to say that the real Champions League starts now. Barcelona are there, Real Madrid, Bayern Munich. Then Chelsea, Arsenal, Manchester City and Dortmund are all there as well.
“What can we do? I don’t know. Last season we were not one of the top four teams in Europe for sure but we made the semi-finals. Let’s go step by step and see how we do.”
Mourinho was also encouraged by a promising cameo from 18-year-old midfielder Ruben Loftus-Cheek, who made his debut for the final seven minutes.
“He showed immediately the quality he has,” Mourinho said.
“Everyone in the stadium got the feeling we have a good talent. He has to keep working and hopefully the people around him don’t destroy the work we are doing.
“I told him ‘I give you this (his debut) and you give me a nice bottle of red wine’. Immediately he said ‘no problem’.”
Sporting had needed only a draw to be sure of joining Chelsea in the last 16, but manager Marco Silva conceded his side could have no complaints after paying a high price for their nervous start.
“We didn’t start well so maybe in the first 15 minutes we felt some pressure because it was a big game,” he said.
“We couldn’t manage them in the first half and didn’t have any rhythm. We were better in the second half but our aspirations were killed when they scored the third goal.”
Follow us on Twitter @SprtNationalUAE
WHAT IS A BLACK HOLE?
1. Black holes are objects whose gravity is so strong not even light can escape their pull
2. They can be created when massive stars collapse under their own weight
3. Large black holes can also be formed when smaller ones collide and merge
4. The biggest black holes lurk at the centre of many galaxies, including our own
5. Astronomers believe that when the universe was very young, black holes affected how galaxies formed
Dubai Bling season three
Cast: Loujain Adada, Zeina Khoury, Farhana Bodi, Ebraheem Al Samadi, Mona Kattan, and couples Safa & Fahad Siddiqui and DJ Bliss & Danya Mohammed
Rating: 1/5
If you go
Where to stay: Courtyard by Marriott Titusville Kennedy Space Centre has unparalleled views of the Indian River. Alligators can be spotted from hotel room balconies, as can several rocket launch sites. The hotel also boasts cool space-themed decor.
When to go: Florida is best experienced during the winter months, from November to May, before the humidity kicks in.
How to get there: Emirates currently flies from Dubai to Orlando five times a week.
The specs
Engine: 2.7-litre 4-cylinder Turbomax
Power: 310hp
Torque: 583Nm
Transmission: 8-speed automatic
Price: From Dh192,500
On sale: Now
Disposing of non-recycleable masks
Use your ‘black bag’ bin at home
Do not put them in a recycling bin
Take them home with you if there is no litter bin
- No need to bag the mask
Key facilities
- Olympic-size swimming pool with a split bulkhead for multi-use configurations, including water polo and 50m/25m training lanes
- Premier League-standard football pitch
- 400m Olympic running track
- NBA-spec basketball court with auditorium
- 600-seat auditorium
- Spaces for historical and cultural exploration
- An elevated football field that doubles as a helipad
- Specialist robotics and science laboratories
- AR and VR-enabled learning centres
- Disruption Lab and Research Centre for developing entrepreneurial skills
What are NFTs?
Are non-fungible tokens a currency, asset, or a licensing instrument? Arnab Das, global market strategist EMEA at Invesco, says they are mix of all of three.
You can buy, hold and use NFTs just like US dollars and Bitcoins. “They can appreciate in value and even produce cash flows.”
However, while money is fungible, NFTs are not. “One Bitcoin, dollar, euro or dirham is largely indistinguishable from the next. Nothing ties a dollar bill to a particular owner, for example. Nor does it tie you to to any goods, services or assets you bought with that currency. In contrast, NFTs confer specific ownership,” Mr Das says.
This makes NFTs closer to a piece of intellectual property such as a work of art or licence, as you can claim royalties or profit by exchanging it at a higher value later, Mr Das says. “They could provide a sustainable income stream.”
This income will depend on future demand and use, which makes NFTs difficult to value. “However, there is a credible use case for many forms of intellectual property, notably art, songs, videos,” Mr Das says.
HOW TO WATCH
Facebook: TheNationalNews
Twitter: @thenationalnews
Instagram: @thenationalnews.com
TikTok: @thenationalnews
COMPANY%20PROFILE
%3Cp%3E%3Cstrong%3ECompany%3A%3C%2Fstrong%3E%20Eco%20Way%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3EStarted%3A%3C%2Fstrong%3E%20December%202023%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3EFounder%3A%3C%2Fstrong%3E%20Ivan%20Kroshnyi%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3EBased%3A%3C%2Fstrong%3E%20Dubai%2C%20UAE%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3EIndustry%3A%3C%2Fstrong%3E%20Electric%20vehicles%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3EInvestors%3A%3C%2Fstrong%3E%20Bootstrapped%20with%20undisclosed%20funding.%20Looking%20to%20raise%20funds%20from%20outside%3Cbr%3E%3C%2Fp%3E%0A
Bert van Marwijk factfile
Born: May 19 1952
Place of birth: Deventer, Netherlands
Playing position: Midfielder
Teams managed:
1998-2000 Fortuna Sittard
2000-2004 Feyenoord
2004-2006 Borussia Dortmund
2007-2008 Feyenoord
2008-2012 Netherlands
2013-2014 Hamburg
2015-2017 Saudi Arabia
2018 Australia
Major honours (manager):
2001/02 Uefa Cup, Feyenoord
2007/08 KNVB Cup, Feyenoord
World Cup runner-up, Netherlands
