BlogVibe

Comfortable champions in the Premier League who won the League Cup along the way, Chelsea's failure in the Champions League will be the one sore spot for Jose Mourinho as he starts planning for next season.

Well into his second term at Chelsea now, it is surely beginning to rankle the Portuguese that he has failed to even reach the final of the competition he has won with Porto and Inter Milan with the two teams where he should have had the best chance—Real Madrid the other. Fail to do so again with the Blues next season, and perhaps Mourinho will start to face some real questions about why he has failed where Avram Grant, who reached the final, and Roberto Di Matteo, who won it, managed to succeed.

Of course, the vagaries of fate and fortune play their role, but Chelsea had few excuses for their last-16 defeat to Paris Saint-Germain. Mourinho even suggested before the tie that the draw had been a favourable one, something that looked to be the case when Chelsea had the lead in the second leg at Stamford Bridge and PSG had already had a man sent off.

Yet Laurent Blanc's side scored late on to force extra time and scored again to win the tie on away goals. The loss will surely still sting Mourinho, who will be determined not to let the same thing happen again next season.

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