Jose Mourinho Rules out Chelsea Win Bonuses Ahead of PSG Champions League Clash

Chelsea manager Jose Mourinho has insisted that his players are not in line for any bonuses should they progress past Paris Saint-Germain and into the quarter-finals of the Champions League.

As noted by Le Parisien (h/t the Press Association via ESPN), the PSG stars will apparently receive a reward of €250,000 (£177,000) each should they march on in the competition. The Blues are the big favourites to win the tie at Stamford Bridge following a 1-1 draw in Paris.

But Mourinho has insisted that there will be no added monetary incentive for his playing staff when they take to the field, nor should it be needed, per the aforementioned piece:

"

You know, for a long, long, long time, I don't have bonuses.

…

We do that job as best we can. If we take the club into quarterfinals, semifinals, finals, but we don't win the competition, we are doing a very good job for the club financially but I don't think we should get extra money, on top of our salaries, if we don't win the last prize.

It's nice I think if somebody puts on the table 250,000 euros or pounds to win a certain match, it's nice. But I think professionalism goes above and beyond that. Football is about our passion for the game, the happiness and the pride of victories. They have no price.

"

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Indeed, it’s tough to disagree with Mourinho’s assessment. While the money reportedly set aside to reward these PSG players could well serve as a source of additional motivation, this is a team that should be completely focused on the job at hand as they look to fire this club towards a maiden European Cup triumph.

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On the flipside, given their atrocious record on English soil, perhaps they need all the help they can get, per Sky Sports News HQ:

If Laurent Blanc can get his team to replicate the display they turned in in the first leg, they have a fair chance of progressing. At the Parc des Princes PSG’s profligacy and an exemplary display from Thibaut Courtois prevented this team from taking a lead to London and it’s imperative they show comparable vigour in the second leg.

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But the French outfit are coming up against a Chelsea team that have a burgeoning aura about them and in Mourinho, a manager who knows exactly how to get the best out of his teams in critical encounters. They'll have to be at their very best to shut down the effervescent talents of Eden Hazard too, something that Bleacher Report's Jonathan Johnson took a look at:

As illustrated by Sky Sports News HQ, the Blues manager is well versed in hauling his sides over the line in these precarious ties:

Different clubs work in different ways and for a flush outfit like PSG that is desperate to triumph in this competition, perhaps this particular tactic might stir something in their players. After all, for a lot of the personnel in this squad, you suspect monetary incentives were paramount to them joining the Ligue 1 club to begin with.

But considering Mourinho’s record in this competition—a winner with both Porto and Internazionale—if the Portuguese insists that bonuses shouldn’t be utilised at this stage of the season, it’s tough to find ample foundation to claim otherwise.