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Jose Mourinho has aimed a cheeky jibe at Manchester City over Chelsea's 74 charges by the Football Association.
The Blues have been charged by the governing body over alleged breaches of it's regulations on working with football agents, intermediaries and third party investment in players. The charges range from 2009 to 2022 and primarily between the 2010/11 and 2015/16 seasons.
Meanwhile, there is a separate case involving City, who were charged in February 2023 over historical breaches of the Premier League's Financial Fair Play (FFP) rules between 2009 and 2018. City have strongly denied all charges and, along with the English top-flight, are still waiting for the outcome of an independent commission hearing
Now, ex-Blues boss Mourinho has had his say on the 74 charges facing Chelsea - referencing City's case when asked about it before his Benfica side face Enzo Maresca's team on Tuesday.
"Not Man City? I've no idea. I've no idea about it. I've no idea what the charges are, I will try to understand," he said at Monday's pre-match press conference.
While Mourinho is delighted to return to a stadium that means a lot to him, he is completely focused on helping Benfica produce a shock.
He said: "Of course I will always be a blue. I'm part of their history and they are part of mine.
"I helped them to become a bigger Chelsea and they helped me to become a bigger Jose. When I say I'm not a blue, I'm talking about the job I have to do tomorrow. There are not many clubs that do these pictures.
"There is a fear in many clubs about what happened in the past. Sometimes it looks like they want to delete people who made history in the clubs. This shows Chelsea are a big club."
Mourinho has also been impressed with the job Maresca has done since becoming Chelsea head coach in the summer of 2024.
"Honestly, I don't know the model," he added. "I never studied their model.
"There was a set period where myself, from the outside, was putting some question marks [on it] because it looked like Chelsea had lost their identity as a club. But what happened in the last season got things back on track.
"They gave trust to Enzo and gave his ideas. He's fitted in well with the philosophy of the club."
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