Porto boss: We must ‘play a perfect game’

Jose Mourinho: Time running out on his Chelsea reign?

Jose Mourinho: Time running out on his Chelsea reign?

Porto boss Julen Lopetegui says his side must “play a perfect game” to beat Chelsea in Tuesday night’s Champions League Group G clash.

The Premier League champions have made an inconsistent start to the season and drew 2-2 at Newcastle on Saturday to sit 15th in the table after just two wins in their first seven games.

But their opening 4-0 Group G victory over Maccabi Tel-Aviv shows Lopetegui of the danger posed by Jose Mourinho’s side on the Blues boss’ return to Estadio do Dragao.

“They won their first European game 4-0 and are a strong team, one of the biggest in the world,” he said.

“We’ll have to put in the perfect game to beat them.”

Chelsea have been so inconsistent of late it is difficult to tell which side will turn up, but Porto are taking nothing for granted.

“We want to put in a great performance tomorrow, even against a team of Chelsea’s power,” added Lopetegui, whose side drew 2-2 in their opening game with Dynamo Kiev.

There are numerous sub-plots to the encounter.

Lopetegui has shared history with Mourinho. They were briefly at Barcelona at the same time, while the former goalkeeper also had a spell at Real Madrid prior to Mourinho joining the Spanish giants in 2010.

Asked whether there were any similarities between the pair, Lopetegui said: “I’m not going to answer that, other than to say Mr Mourinho is a wonderful coach and did great things at Porto. Winning trophies. I will respect that.”

Mourinho was Sir Bobby Robson’s assistant at Porto before later becoming coach and guiding them to the 2002-03 UEFA Cup and 2003-04 Champions League titles.

The latter was followed by his first move to Chelsea, which saw an immediate return to Porto in the group stages of the Champions League in the 2004-05 season.

Porto’s 2010-11 Europa League success was under Andre Villas-Boas, who next had an unhappy spell as Chelsea boss.

Mourinho was at Real Madrid by then, where he endured a rotten relationship with Iker Casillas, who is now goalkeeper at Porto.

Radamel Falcao, the Chelsea striker, was prolific at Porto, while another English connection at the Portuguese club is former Southampton striker Dani Osvaldo.