Mourinho misses out on Chelsea reunion as Real Madrid are shot down by Bayern

So Chelsea won't face Jose Mourinho in the Champions League final, but after a semi-final of the utmost drama in Madrid, the occasion may well still be a Special One.

On May 19 in Munich, Jose Mourinho and the players that used to idolise him at Stamford Bridge won't come face with each other on the greatest stage in club football after his Real Madrid team lost to Bayern Munich on penalties at Santiago Bernabeu.

Be it flirting from afar or battling head-to-head, the Portuguese boss and Chelsea remain intrinsically linked, but this year they will continue as star-crossed lovers.

When Mourinho announced to his players that he would be leaving west London in September 2007 it never really looked like the end of their great love story. It was a bolt from and to the Blues.

At the time, Didier Drogba cried in the dressing room. John Terry, as is so often his wont on the pitch, remonstrated with club officials, desperate to keep the man who had brought the league title to Stamford Bridge for the first time in half a century and kick-started Roman Abramovich's revolution.

"People can't understand how much I love Chelsea," said the Real coach in March. "I'd love to play them in the final."

That dream slipped through his fingers however, as he slumped to his knees in the Bernabeu technical area and watched Bastian Schweinsteiger send the Bavarians through from the spot.

For Mourinho, the opportunity to parade the prize that Roman Abramovich wants more than any other will have been tantalising. Indeed, when his Inter side knocked the Blues out at Stamford Bridge at the last 16 stage two years ago, the self-proclaimed Special One insisted that he took no pleasure in ending the Russian oligarch's Champions League dream.

"I love Chelsea, I love this stadium, I love these people but I am a professional," said Mourinho after the 1-0 win for the Italians in west London, securing a 3-1 victory on aggregate.

"I celebrated a lot in the dressing room. I'm happy because I won. I am not happy my ex-players lost, because Roman [Abramovich] lost or because the fans go home unhappy."

But Mourinho, you sense, never forgets. His house-hunting trip to London earlier this season amid the final weeks of Andre Villas-Boas' unsuccessful reign merely demonstrated the Portuguese's tendency to relish in his former club's turmoil.

He would never admit it, but beating Chelsea, no, beating Abramovich in Munich next month would have been on his mind.

Instead, Chelsea will face Bayern, a team who, like the Blues, had their own task deemed by some to be nearly impossible in the semi-finals.

Jupp Heynckes' side, like Di Matteo's men, have seen their domestic title in the arms of another side for successive seasons, yet with the world awaiting a Clasico in Bavaria, neither of world football's supposed two greatest teams will participate.

It will be a showpiece that not many will have expected when the semi-final draw was made in March and Chelsea will enter it with heightened expectations, be them foolish or not. For now they have avoided Mourinho. The reunion will have to wait.

Mourinho keen to remain at Real Madrid: If the club want me, I will stay

Jose Mourinho claims he will stay at Real Madrid - providing the Spanish side wish him to remain at the club next season.

Mourinho led Madrid to victory in the Clasico against Barcelona on Saturday to close in on the Liga title, but saw their Champions League hopes dashed as they went out on penalties to Bayern Munich at the Santiago Bernabeu on Wednesday.

But after that disappointment, the Portuguese boosted fans of the Spanish side with a positive message on Wednesday.

"I will continue if the club thinks that I can still give something and if the players think so as well. – and I know that the club have faith in me, and I think the players do so as well. I feel like the empathy is increasing," he told reporters after the game.

"If I have anything in my mind, it is to try to win with these players. Winning the Copa del Rey last year was important and if we win the league this year that will be important too. Two [Champions League] semi-finals is also not bad but we want more.

"My feeling is that we still have the ability to grow as a team and the club has room to grow too. Clubs have to adapt to the evolution of time and to changing mentalities. A fantastic car in the 1980s is not fantastic in the 1990s or the 2000s."

The 49-year-old also claimed winning La Liga would represent a successful season for his side.

"We need six more points and there are four more games left to do it," he explained. "We are ahead on our own and we have earned that. If we win the championship, it will have been a good season."

He also added that he was proud of his players following their semi-final exit on penalties.

"It hurts me because they have worked so hard to get here," he continued. "The players should go home tonight, kiss their wives and their children and hold their heads up high."

Madrid resume La Liga action on Sunday when they host Sevilla.

Mourinho wants Chelsea to beat Barcelona but sees 'no reason' to leave Real Madrid this summer

Real Madrid coach Jose Mourinho is hoping Chelsea progress to the final of the Champions League at the expense of Barcelona but dismissed speculation that he is poised to return to Stamford Bridge, insisting that he has no reason to leave the Spanish capital.

It was reported in January that the Portuguese had already decided to quit Los Blancos in the summer and that he was considering rejoining the Blues.

Mourinho has now confessed that Chelsea retain a special place in his heart ahead of the Premier League outfit's clash with Barca at Camp Nou.

"If it was Barca versus Milan or Barca versus Arsenal I would not care, but when it's Chelsea or Inter, I can't hide my feelings for my old players and I wish all of them the best of luck," the Portuguese told reporters during a press conference on Tuesday.

Mourinho claimed that he is happy at the Santiago Bernabeu but did concede that his future with Los Blancos remains somewhat uncertain.

"I have a contract and see no reason to leave, but we'll decide at the end of the season," he explained. "We could win two trophies or none at all - but that's football.


"At the moment my future is not important, but I think I will be [at Real Madrid] next season."

However, Mourinho admitted that he has benefited enormously from his spell in Spain.

"The two years I have spent at Real Madrid so far have been a rich experience and have made me a better coach," the former Porto, Chelsea and Inter boss claimed.

Mourinho is now bidding to become the first man to win Europe's premier club competition with three different teams.

However, as the 49-year-old revealed ahead of Madrid's semi-final second-leg showdown with Bayern Munich on Wednesday, he has also known heartbreak in the Champions League.

"I have been unlucky in semis," he mused. "There was a goal that was no goal [against Liverpool in 2005], I lost on penalties [against Liverpool in 2007] and last season losing the way everybody knows [against Barcelona].

"So, this one I hope to win!"

Madrid's crunch clash with Bayern at the Santiago Bernabeu kicks off at 20.45.