Jose Mourinho writes off Tottenham’s chances of beating Real Madrid in the Champions League

Jose Mourinho, Real Madrid (Getty Images)

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Jose Mourinho has written off Tottenham Hotspur‘s chances of beating Real Madrid over two legs in the Champions League quarter-final clash between the two sides.

The teams lock horns at the Bernabeu on Tuesday evening, and the former Chelsea boss believes that his side have the appetite to get the job done against a club who are currently on a dream run in the European tournament.

Spurs are playing in Europe’s elite competition for the first time in almost 50 years, and the first tiome in its modern format. Yet they have managed to beat AC Milan as well as their arch-rivals Inter during the course of a thrilling campaign.

Now they take on the most successful club in the history of the competition, Real Madrid, who have won it a record nine times.

“I have the utmost respect for Tottenham and what they have achieved this season in the Champions League,” Mourinho said, according to The Mirror.

“Of course they have earned the right to be proud of their success, but do I think they will beat Madrid? No.

“It is my opinion that we are the better team and I am confident we will progress over the two legs.”

The last time that Real celebrated a European triumph was back in 2002, when they beat Bayer Leverkusen 2-1 in the final.

But since then success has been hard to come by in the continental competition, while their rivals Barcelona have won it twice in recent seasons.

Now the Portuguese tactician has admitted that the pressure is on to win Europe’s premier club tournament, particularly as he has previously triumphed with two other clubs – Porto and Inter.

Mourinho said: “Of course the expectations are greater. Not only because of me, but also because of this ­famous club’s history.

“They have­ under-achieved for far too long in a ­tournament they have won nine times and consider to be their own. But if there is pressure I have always welcomed it.

“I always maintained that joining Madrid was not about pressure to win trophies, it was about pressure to ­manage a club some ­people ­consider an ­impossible task.”