José Mourinho faces diminishing returns when Chelsea go to Porto

With all the distractions currently surrounding Chelsea a return trip to Porto is probably the last thing José Mourinho needs, though at least the Champions League is the competition that allowed the club some breathing space after their dismal start to the domestic season, in the form of a straightforward win against Maccabi Tel Aviv.

That result, coupled with Porto’s draw against Dynamo Kiev on the same night, means Chelsea could consolidate a strong position in Group G with victory in Estádio do Dragão on Tuesday, yet this is Mourinho’s third visit as their manager and his record at his old club is not encouraging.

His initial return was in his first season in England, when a late Benni McCarthy header inflicted Chelsea’s second defeat under his stewardship, three weeks before Christmas. Chelsea managed a draw through an Andriy Shevchenko goal the next time, in 2007, although they lost John Terry to injury and on a feisty night had Petr Cech, Michael Essien, Michael Ballack and Claude Makélélé booked. On both occasions Chelsea managed to recover the damage at home, though in 2007 Porto took a shock lead before Ballack and Arjen Robben saw Mourinho’s side through.

Porto have changed since Mourinho left them, morphing from a winning team to a selling phenomenon. In the past 10 years the club and the agents they favour have banked in the region of £500m from player sales. It is an interesting question, though an academic one, to ponder how Porto might have fared had they kept hold of James Rodríguez, Pepe, Fernando and Radamel Falcao and many others, though the likelihood is that was never their intention. Porto have established a niche in the market as shrewd movers-on of mostly South American talent and everyone seems happy with the profitability of the exercise.