Mourinho keen to avoid European slip-up

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Chelsea manager Jose Mourinho has warned his players that they could easily still end up in the Europe League this season despite being unbeaten in their opening four Champions League group games.

The Blues top Group G with eight points but face a tricky away fixture against Schalke next week, before hosting Sporting Lisbon in the final match on December 10.

And after only drawing away against Slovenian side Mariobor in their last game in Europe, Mourinho is concerned.

“Chelsea can end in the Europa League, if we lose to Schalke and against Sporting,” he said.

“We are not in a position to be worried about other results and teams [potential opponents in the next stage].”

Defeats against both sides would mean that the Germans and Portuguese teams would finish above Chelsea if they also win their fixtures against Maribor.

But a draw against Sporting would guarantee progress, while a draw with Schalke would almost certainly be good enough because of Chelsea’s superior goal difference.

“The first objective is to finish second and go into the last 16,” Mourinho added. “And the second objective is to finish first. We don’t want the third possibility.

“When we play Schalke, we are only focused on making sure we do not go to the Europa League.”

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