http://soccernet.espn.go.com/news/st...tenham?cc=4716
Jose confident of progress
Real Madrid coach Jose Mourinho believes his team has the edge on Tottenham & is confident he k end their Champions League odyssey.
Spurs' debut Champions League campaign has already delivered famous wins against Inter Milan & AC Milan, & the reward 4 Harry Redknapp's side is a glamorous last-8 encounter against Madrid.
Mourinho, who won the Champions League as coach of Inter last season, concedes he has some misgivings abt coming up against the tournament dark horses but says he is @ least approaching the tie with more relish than he did last year's last-16 encounter with former club Chelsea.
"I didn't 1 Chelsea-Inter, becos last season it was difficult 2 play against Chelsea," Mourinho said. "I did it, & I did everything I could 2 help my team, but I was not comfortable. I don't like 2 play against my friends.
"Any team is difficult & any team is a motivation 4 us. Tottenham r a good team: they beat Inter, they beat Milan, they hv ambitions, they hv a very good team & a good manager.
"You can feel tat it is a happy team, & happy teams r dangerous teams."
Asked whether Spurs could produce an upset & go all the way, Mourinho added on BBC Radio 5 Five: "It's possible. They hv a not very easy draw, but they hv not had an easy draw fr the beginning.
"But I 1 2 believe, with all respect of course, tat their campaign in the Champions League will finish in the 2nd leg @ White Hart Lane.
"They hv reason 2 be proud already, & I think they hv a reason 2 fight us & 2 try 2 reach the semis, but I believe tat we r a better team."
Spurs hv failed 2 mount a title challenge in the Premier League tis season despite the fact tat the traditional big guns hv dropped points with greater regularity than normal, & Mourinho believes tis perhaps indicates a drop-off in standards.
"[In my 1st season @ Chelsea] you had 2 win & win & win & win, & every point you lost you r in a difficult situation, becos the top teams were winning a lot, in the same way tat we r doing now in Spain," he said.
"At tis moment in the Premier League they r losing a lot of points. Every team had difficult moments, so 4 me it looks like the top teams hv lost a little bit."