José Mourinho's UEFA Champions League memories

José Mourinho has not had it all his own way this season, but it could yet be a historic campaign for the Chelsea manager. The self-proclaimed 'special one' will become the first coach to win the competition with three different clubs if his team lift trophy in Milan on 28 May. He discussed his UEFA Champions League highs and lows with UEFA.com.

On his 2004 success with Porto…
It was perfect. Monaco started better than us, but after ten, 12 minutes we were completely in control. It was a fantastic moment for us. It was a pity that they couldn't keep us, because if that team had stayed together, I don't know what we could have done. After that victory I left, Deco left, [Paulo] Ferreira, [Ricardo] Carvalho, [Nuno] Valente and Costinha left – everyone left and the team disappeared, but the history doesn't disappear.

On his 2010 win and his bond with Inter Milan…
The [Inter] supporters are special. The president is more than special. It was a real family and that season we did everything. We won everything.

Against Bayern, it was the game of their lives for many of my players. It was the last chance for [Javier] Zanetti, [Marco] Materazzi, [Iván] Córdoba, [Cristian] Chivu and Maicon to do it. And we played that game with that mentality. We were not playing with XI, we were playing with thousands and thousands and thousands because Inter had waited a long time for that. We were very confident and it was a perfect way for me to leave such a club. A club I love so much.

On semi-final heartache with Real Madrid…
When I arrived at Real Madrid they hadn't reached the quarter-finals for almost a decade and when we got Lyon in the last 16, the club was in panic. We went through that barrier and the club changed, the players changed. We thought we would win the competition. But in three consecutive years we reached the semi-finals, and for different reasons we didn't manage to reach the final.

The one that was really difficult was the one we lost on penalties [to Bayern]. It was a big disappointment, but when Real Madrid won it in 2014 the club deserved it. The club deserved it totally, and I was happy.

On Chelsea's chances…
I have a very good group, the relationships are very good. I think always that we have to go step by step, and the group phase is the first step. You have to finish in the top two and progress. When you get to the knockout stage, the unpredictability of every detail becomes fundamental. Only one can win, only two can reach the final. But that is the reality because this competition is the biggest competition in the world of football.

On the prospect of becoming the first coach to win the UEFA Champions League with three clubs…
That's not the objective – the objective is to win a third one, it's not to have a record. If somebody does it before me, or if somebody wins it with four or five clubs, I don't care about that. I just want to win it with the club where I am.