Jose Mourinho Denies Steven Gerrard's Chelsea Friction Talk After John Terry Axe

Chelsea manager Jose Mourinho denied Steven Gerrard’s claims that there is a rift between himself and skipper John Terry in the aftermath of his side’s 4-0 win in the Champions League over Maccabi Tel Aviv.

Gerrard, taking on punditry duties for BT Sport, claimed “there's certainly a bit of friction behind the scenes” at Chelsea, insisting Terry would have been in the team otherwise. But Mourinho was fast to correct the former Liverpool man after the game.

“Steven is wrong,” said Mourinho, per Sami Mokbel of the MailOnline. “I like him very much and I have a good relation with him. Sometimes we contact each other by SMS. I admire him a lot. He has the same feelings about myself. But he's wrong. We have no problems at all.”

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Mourinho also admitted it was great to get back to winning ways following a turbulent few weeks, per audioboom.com:

Terry was left on the bench by the Portuguese as his side swept away a mediocre Tel Aviv team. It was one of a number of changes made by Mourinho on the night, with Branislav Ivanovic, Diego Costa and Nemanja Matic retired from the starting line-up, too. The 4-0 victory was only Chelsea’s second of the season after a torrid start to the Premier League.

As noted by Bleacher Report’s Chelsea correspondent Garry Hayes, the supporters inside Stamford Bridge really got behind Mourinho and the team for this Champions League opener:

Perhaps buoyed by the praise of the Blues' faithful, Mourinho was in pretty bullish mood after the match. “I'm a fantastic manager when I'm not winning matches and I'm a fantastic manager when I am,” he brazenly claimed, per Mokbel’s piece. “The pundits get big money not to say easy things. They have to be geniuses in their analysis or they don't deserve the money they get.”

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Drafting Terry out of the team could certainly be viewed as a shrewd bit of management. After all, the centre-back is approaching the twilight of his career and as such, will not be able to play every minute of every match. The Blues will not face many easier clashes than the Israeli club at home either, so it was an ideal time to rotate.

But it was still a confidence-boosting evening for a lot of players involved in the game, especially the likes of Willian, Oscar, Costa and Cesc Fabregas, who all got on the scoresheet. The defence finally looked in decent shape too, which was certainly long overdue, per football writer Jake Cohen:

We’ll learn more about Chelsea in the weeks to come, though, with much-stiffer challenges ahead. Saturday’s clash against Arsenal at Stamford Bridge will be hugely important and a win over the Gunners would be a thorough indication this team is back in the groove.

By contrast, murmurs of friction behind closed doors will continue to rumble on should another defeat be suffered by the Premier League champions.

Regardless of what Mourinho may say in public, there’s been something fractious about Chelsea in the early weeks of the season, but those issues can quickly be resolved if the Maccabi win prompts a major upturn in form.