Chelsea manager Jose Mourinho arrives at training ahead of Champions League visit of Dynamo Kiev in biggest game of the season

 

If the pressure is getting to Jose Mourinho, he doesn't seem to be showing it yet with the Chelsea manager arriving at training ahead of one of the biggest games of his career in a cheery mood.

Monday saw the Portuguese coach's already-deep problems worsen with a Football Association stadium ban and £40,000 fine following news that doctor Eva Carneiro would sue him individually.

Mourinho spent Monday night out with his family dining at Gaucho Grill in Chelsea, and a relaxed evening in the company of his clan looked the perfect preparation for the visit of Dynamo Kiev.   

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Chelsea manager Jose Mourinho is all smiles as he arrives for training at their Cobham HQ on Tuesday

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The Chelsea boss is stepping up preparations for Wednesday's Champions League visit of Dynamo Kiev

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Mourinho is pictured leaving the Gaucho Grill restaurant in Chelsea on Monday night with son Jose Jr

+9Mourinho's daughter Matilde Jr (second left) and wife Matilde (third left) leave behind the Chelsea boss

On Tuesday Mourinho arrived at Cobham to step up Chelsea's preparations for the crisis-hit champions' biggest game of the season in Wednesday's Champions League group-stage clash.

The visiting Ukrainians know they could wreck their hosts' hopes of success in another competition with a shock victory at Stamford Bridge putting the Blues - and Mourinho - on the brink.

But for now, things remain stable in the Special One's camp. His future is not being considered by the club who handed him a new four-year contract this summer, although that could all change with the key fixtures against Dynamo and Stoke City to come this week.

Mourinho, his wife Matilde, son Jose Jr and daughter Matilde Jr had dinner at the Chelsea branch of Argentine restaurant chain Gaucho, where steaks can cost anything from £19.95 for a 300g rump to £59.50 for a 500g fillet.

The Chelsea manager dressed casually on a relaxed evening ahead of his latest meeting with the media which takes place at the club's Cobham training base at 12.30pm on Tuesday.

Recent press conferences and interviews have seen Mourinho in a spiky mood, particularly in a BT Sport quizzing where he refused to offer answers to the questions put to him in Chelsea's defeat by Liverpool at Stamford Bridge on Saturday.

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Mourinho enjoyed a relaxing evening with his close family in an escape from the recent stress of his job

+9Dynamo Kiev know they could wreck their hosts' hopes of success and put Mourinho on the brink of exit

WHY MOURINHO MIGHT FEAR KIEV... 

Chelsea's Champions League clash against Dynamo Kiev on Wednesday night might not sound like the toughest task, but it could be -given the Ukrainian champion's recent form.

Dynamo have kept 14 clean sheets in their last 19 games in all competitions and in Andriy Yarmolenko they boast one of Europe's most in-demand talents.

They beat Metalist Kharkiv 2-0 on Saturday and have lost just once in all competitions this season, against Shakhtar Donetsk last month. 

That 3-1 reverse ramped up the speculation that the 52-year-old could be on his way out but he remains in a job after the latest series of planning meetings with his inner ring of backroom staff.

Meanwhile, on Monday, former boss Carlo Ancelotti and ex-Chelsea player Claude Makelele emerged as a possible dream ticket management pairing to take over if Mourinho is sacked.

Ancelotti and Makelele worked together for two years at Paris Saint-Germain before going their separate ways in 2013.

Both enjoyed success at Chelsea, both remain popular among the supporters and both are out of work. Ancelotti left Real Madrid last summer and Makelele was sacked within six months of leaving PSG for his first managerial job at another French club, Bastia.

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Mourinho faces the media after training on Tuesday ready to talk through his latest big-game assignment

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Carlo Ancelotti (left) and Claude Makelele (pictured at Paris Saint-Germain) have emerged as a possible team

Ancelotti is in London — on holiday he insists — and the Italian is by no means certain to accept the offer of a return to the job he lost in 2011, when he was sacked a year after winning the Double.

Mourinho was hit with a misconduct charge after being sent to the stands in his side's 2-1 defeat at West Ham last month. And while he is still expected to travel to Stoke and watch the game from the team hotel, the ban could not come at a more difficult time, given it was only last week that Chelsea lost at Stoke in the Capital One Cup.

An Independent Regulatory Commission confirmed Mourinho's punishment takes immediate effect, although an appeal could delay it. Mourinho and Chelsea will decide how to respond once they have received the FA's written reasons for the ban later this week.

STATE OF PLAY IN CHAMPIONS LEAGUE GROUP G 

If Chelsea beat Dynamo...

Things look to start a little more comfortable. The Blues face group whipping-boys Maccabi on matchday five and should have a Stamford Bridge showdown with Porto to decide who tops the group.

If Chelsea draw with Dynamo...

It gets a bit more difficult. Porto should win away in Tel Aviv which will leave Chelsea potentially needing maximum points from their last two games to overhaul Dynamo.

If Chelsea lose against Dynamo...

Nightmare. The Blues will probably be six and four points behind their main Group G rivals respectively. They would have to win both remaining games and hope for a favour from Maccabi away in Kiev. Even that might not be enough.

Remaining fixtures

04/11 Maccabi Tel Aviv vs Porto

04/11 Chelsea vs Dynamo Kiev

24/11 Porto vs Dynamo Kiev

24/11 Maccabi Tel Aviv vs Chelsea

09/12 Dynamo Kiev vs Maccabi Tel Aviv

09/12 Chelsea vs Porto