Jose Mourinho shows true Chelsea colours with brilliant gesture and heartfelt message

Jose Mourinho showed his true colours at the end of his pre-match press conference on Monday night. Chelsea will lock horns with Benfica at Stamford Bridge in the UEFA Champions League this evening as both sides looks to return to winning ways.

Bayern Munich cruised past the Blues a couple of weeks ago, kicking off the new campaign with a 3-1 win at the Allianz Arena. Chelsea showed great promise, with Cole Palmer pulling one back shortly after Harry Kane doubled the Bundesliga champions' lead.

But once the England captain scored his second of the tie, the west Londoners struggled to reclaim a foothold. The following night, Qarabag FK came from behind to beat Benfica 3-2 at the Estadio da Luz.

Enzo Barrenechea and Vangelis Pavlidis fired Mourinho's side ahead in the opening quarter of an hour. Leandro Andrade halved the Azerbaijani outfit's deficit on the half-hour mark before Camilo Duran and Oleksiy Kashchuk found the net either side of the break.

Mourinho may be under pressure to deliver a result for Benfica, but he was his typical charismatic self upon his return to Stamford Bridge on Monday night. After speaking to journalists in the Drake Suite, the Portuguese boss showed his true colours.

Mourinho spared a few moments to shake hands with those from the media before catching up with a former colleague. Just as the 62-year-old was about to leave, he opened his arms and gave a lady, who was waiting for him by the door, a big hug.

They shared a few words before going their own ways. In the pre-match press conference, Mourinho poured his heart out for Chelsea, confessing that he'll 'always be a Blue'.

The Benfica head coach, who won three Premier League titles in two spells at Stamford Bridge, said: "Chelsea is a winning machine," he said. "I'm the biggest one until someone wins four [league titles]!

"Benfica will be the fourth club I've come here with; it's a stadium where I won't feel any kind of antagonism, I think. But it wouldn't hurt me either. I can isolate myself without any problem.

"As they say, 'I'm not a Blue anymore.' I'm a Red [Benfica], and I want to win. Of course, I will always be a Blue. I am part of their history, and they are part of my history.

"I helped them become a bigger Chelsea, and they helped me to become bigger at Chelsea. When I say I'm not a Blue, I hope everyone understands that I'm speaking about the job that I have to do, that I have to do tomorrow.

"Before the game and after the game, it will be my Chelsea, but during the game, it will be my Benfica."

Mourinho also backed Enzo Maresca, who won the UEFA Conference League and Club World Cup last season. The former Chelsea boss said: "From the outside, it looked like Chelsea [had] lost the identity as a club.

"But what happened last season, it seems they are back on track. They gave trust to Enzo, he brought his ideas. The Conference League is an easy competition to win for a big club, I did it with Roma.

"The Club World Cup badge means a lot. Congratulations to them. I think that gives them a place of trust, of confidence. I live five minutes away from here, I feel it. My son comes to every game.

"There was a period of disappointment, a period of doubt, now it's one of happiness. I think Chelsea is back on track. It's more difficult to win the Champions League than the Club World Cup but Chelsea has the potential to do it."

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