Mourinho Criticises Champions League Draws

Less than 24 hours after UEFA conducted the draws for the group stage of this year’s Champions League, Chelsea manager Jose Mourinho has criticised  the system used by UEFA to determine the seedings.

It would be recalled that the draw for the group stage of Europe’s elite club competition was made on Thursday, 28 August, 2014 with questions raised about the way the make-up of each group is influenced by dividing the 32 teams into four pots beforehand based on their previous European performances.

But Mourinho, whose side were drawn with Sporting Lisbon, Schalke and Maribor, doesn’t believe clubs who haven’t won a league title in years should be ranked higher than reigning domestic champions.

Arsenal, for example, were one of the top seeds despite having not won the Premier League in a decade and finishing fourth last season, whereas title-winners like Paris St Germain, Juventus and Manchester City were ranked lower.

Chelsea’s Jose Mourinho

There was also complaints over Portuguese club Benfica, Europa League runners-up in 2013 and 2014, inclusion in the first pot of seeds despite a mediocre Champions League record in recent years.

“Maybe what they have to look at is the criteria to qualify teams for different pots,” Mourinho said on Friday.

“I know Roma, for example, have not played in Europe for a few years, but they are runners-up in Italy so to be in the fourth pot is hard.

“On the other hand, teams that don’t win titles for a long, long time, they are in the first, second and third seeds.

“Also, I think it’s not fair that the points you make in the Europa League help you make a coefficient for the Champions League.

“You go in the Europa League, you win more matches, you make more points and then become protected by these points.

“It gives you a bigger coefficient in the Champions League. That criteria is strange but the fact that you play against team, that’s just occasional. That’s just about the draw.”

Real Madrid are the holders of the Champions League after the Spanish giants triumphed over Atletico Madrid in May.