Chelsea manager Jose Mourinho has played down the significance of facing Roberto di Matteo's Schalke 04 in the Champions League next week.
Di Matteo welcomes his former club to Gelsenkirchen on Tuesday as he gears up for a first meeting with the Blues since being sacked two years ago.
However, Mourinho was keen to play down the subplot and claims that it is not a case of him versus the Italian, who played for Chelsea and led them to European glory in 2012.
"I don't play against him," he told reporters. "If I play against him, he wins because he plays better than me.
"Unless I am fitter, which I don't know, but normally he wins because he is much better than me.
"It is Chelsea against Schalke, it is not me against Di Matteo."
The Londoners sit top of Group G heading into the clash, three points clear of the second-placed Germans.
Written by
Shane Callaghan
Shane Callaghan
