The Chelsea boss has revealed that the only reason he hopes the Gunners do not make it into the second round of the competition is because he is friends with Olympiacos coach Marco Silva
Chelsea boss Mourinho has risked riling old foe Arsene Wenger and sparking a fresh war of words between the rival managers by revealing he would like to see the Greek side progress from Group F rather than the Gunners, due to his close relationship with their coach, Marco Silva.
Arsenal’s win over Dinamo Zagreb on Tuesday means they face a do-or-die final group clash in Athens on December 8, when second place behind pool winners Bayern Munich will be up for grabs.
And Mourinho said: “I would always like English teams to qualify, first.
“They [Arsenal] are in a group where a kid friend of mine is the manager of Olympiakos and it would be fantastic for the kid’s career to go through.
“So I have to be honest and say that I would like the kid and Olympiakos to go on, and we know that Bayern go through for sure.”
But Mourinho added: “The reality is that Arsenal can still do it. Arsenal can perfectly go to Athens and win.
“Even doing a bad group phase – because to lose at home to Olympiakos and to lose in Zagreb and to lose six points they should win is bad – they can qualify. They can qualify.
“It’s not my problem, it’s their problem, but the reality is first of all they can qualify and secondly if they go into the Europa League then they become favourites [to win it].
“So I think they can have success in the Champions League by going to the next round and they can succeed in the Europa League because then they become favourites, so I think they have a lot to play for.”