The Portuguese has reached the last four on seven previous occasions but will go one better than that on Tuesday night and surpass Sir Alex Ferguson’s tally
Jose Mourinho will break Sir Alex Ferguson’s record of Champions League semi-final appearances when Chelsea travel to Atletico Madrid on Tuesday night.
The tie will be the eighth time the Portuguese has taken charge of a last four tie in Europe’s premier competition and his third at the Stamford Bridge helm.
Mourinho made his Champions League debut in 2001-02, when he took over midway through the season at Porto, but won the competition in his first full tilt at the title, in 2003-04 (having claimed the Uefa Cup in 2002-03).
That turned out to be his only Champions League semi-final appearance with the club as he moved on to Chelsea that summer. He took the Blues to the cusp of European glory, losing out to Liverpool at the semi-final stage in both 2005 and 2007.
Mourinho left Chelsea a matter of months into the next season and did not return to football until the following campaign, when he agreed to coach Inter. His first season in Milan ended with a Serie A title, but disappointment in Europe as the Nerazzurri exited to Manchester United in the last 16.
However, the Portuguese led the Italians to treble glory in 2009-10, as they claimed the Scudetto, the Coppa Italia and the Champions League – Inter’s first success in Europe’s premier club competition since 1965.
That was Mourinho’s second Champions League victory and his fourth semi-final in the competition. With three more added in consecutive seasons at Madrid, he will now surpass Ferguson with eight last-four appearances on Tuesday.
It is also the fifth straight campaign the 51-year-old has reached the penultimate round of the tournament.
