Chelsea boss Jose Mourinho makes FA Cup admission

Chelsea boss Jose Mourinho has refused to gloss over his side’s humiliating FA Cup defeat to League One side Bradford City at Stamford Bridge.

The Blues were humbled 4-2 in front of their own fans after throwing away a two-goal lead after goals from Gary Cahill and Ramires inside the first 38 minutes.

But the Bantams hit back before the half-time break and then ended Chelsea’s bid to win the quadruple with three unanswered goals in the final 15 minutes in west London.

Mourinho opted to name the likes of John Terry, Cesc Fabregas, Eden Hazard, Thibaut Courtois and Willian on the bench, with fringe men including Loic Remy, Mohamed Salah and Andreas Christensen in the Portuguese coach’s starting XI.

The Blues boss has denied suggestions he was not bothered by FA Cup glory this season but must now prepare his players for the second leg of the Capital One Cup semi-final clash with Liverpool on Tuesday night, with the tie delicately poised at 1-1 from the first leg at Anfield.

He said: “Obviously the Premier League is in front of the cups, but the way we prepare things – in a serious way, in a professional way – I can’t say we don’t care about the FA Cup. ‘Ah, we lost, I don’t care’ – I cannot say that.

“We lost and we care. I cannot say more than that. Does this affect the next match? I don’t know.

“Because many of the players were not directly involved in the game, I don’t think these players can be affected. I don’t think (Branislav) Ivanovic, (Nemanja) Matic, Diego (Costa), can be affected by something that is not directly related to them.

“But it’s our team and we lost at home against a lower division team.”

Chelsea are 1.54 to beat Liverpool (6.35) with the draw 3.66 and Mourinho is likely to recall his big guns.