After being left "embarrassed" by Bradford City, Jose Mourinho has demanded a response as his Chelsea side seek to reach the League Cup final against Liverpool on Tuesday, Thegoalmac can reveal.
Premier
League leaders Chelsea were dumped out of the FA Cup by their League
One opponents at Stamford Bridge on Saturday after throwing away a
two-goal lead to lose 4-2 in one of the biggest upsets in the
competition's prestigious history.
Speaking in the aftermath of the shock defeat, manager Mourinho stated his players should feel "ashamed" of themselves.
However,
the Portuguese has no time to dwell on the setback as Chelsea host
Liverpool in their semi-final second leg, with the tie nicely poised at
1-1.
"I always said that I don't choose competitions [to prioritise] and we go match after match," he said.
"The most important competition now is the League Cup because it is the next game.
"Obviously
the Premier League is in front of the cups but the way we prepare in a
serious and a professional way, I can't say we don't care about the FA
Cup. We lose and we care."
Mourinho, who led Chelsea to League
Cup glory in 2005 and 2007 during his first stint at the club, does not
foresee any lasting hangover as several of his first-team regulars were
not involved against Bradford.
"The players who were not involved
directly in this game - [Nemanja] Matic, [Branislav] Ivanovic, Diego
Costa - I don't think they can be affected by it," he added.
"We
lost at home against a lower division team and in an ideal world it
will affect us in a positive not a negative way, like we have to win the
next match and let's go for it."
Liverpool, who lost the 2005
final to Chelsea, also have a point to prove after being taken to an FA
Cup replay in an underwhelming 0-0 draw with Championship club Bolton
Wanderers at Anfield.
Brendan Rodgers' men have been in good form, though, and are on a 10-match unbeaten run.
Indeed,
Liverpool will feel unlucky not to be travelling to London with a
first-leg advantage after impressing at Anfield, where Raheem Sterling's
second-half strike cancelled out Eden Hazard's penalty.
And
midfielder Joe Allen, who returned from a month-long lay-off after a
knee injury against Bolton, is confident the League Cup's most
successful team can pile even more misery on Mourinho's men.
"Of course we can get a result - we all can't wait," Allen told Liverpool's official website.
"These
are the games you want to play in and from the first leg, you can see
from the way that we set out and the way that we performed, that we can
certainly get through this tie."
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