'Mourinho told me "Don't train, you'll be playing but I'm going to name a different team"... he had me believing that I wasn't playing until he named the team so he did me a kipper as well!' Damien Duff on Jose Mourinho's Chelsea vs Barcelona double bluff
Briefly

'Mourinho told me "Don't train, you'll be playing but I'm going to name a different team"... he had me believing that I wasn't playing until he named the team so he did me a kipper as well!' Damien Duff on Jose Mourinho's Chelsea vs Barcelona double bluff
"When Chelsea were paired with Barcelona in the last 16 in 2004/05, the stage was set for a classic. Jose Mourinho had shaken up the Premier League following his arrival as manager the previous summer, with the Blues on course for a first top-flight title in 50 years. Their opponents would also be crowned domestic champions that season, winning La Liga by four points, and boasted the likes of Xavi, Iniesta, Samuel Eto'o and FIFA World Player of the Year Ronaldinho."
"If the narrative wasn't already dripping enough, throw in the fact that Mourinho spent four years on the backroom staff at Barcelona between 1996 and 2000 - and wasted no time in launching into the mind games. Do you want to know the team? Mourinho asked ahead of the first leg at Camp Nou. I can say my team and Barca team. Referee: Frisk. Barcelona: Valdes, Belletti, Puyol, Marquez, Giovanni, Albertini, Deco, Xavi, Eto'o, Giuly, Ronaldinho."
Chelsea and Barcelona faced each other repeatedly in the Champions League and produced numerous memorable moments, but the 2004/05 last-16 tie remains particularly iconic. Barcelona entered the tie as La Liga champions with stars including Ronaldinho, Xavi, Iniesta, Samuel Eto'o and Giuly, while Chelsea under Jose Mourinho pursued a first top-flight title in 50 years. Mourinho's previous spell on Barcelona's backroom staff informed a series of public mind games before the first leg, when he mock-announced lineups and teased the Camp Nou crowd. The tie included an extraordinary Ronaldinho goal in the second leg that became one of the competition's defining moments.
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