Jose Mourinho Hopes Olympiakos Top Arsenal After 'Bad' Champions League Campaign

Chelsea manager Jose Mourinho has taken yet another swipe at Arsenal boss Arsene Wenger by highlighting the Gunners' poor Champions League results, and he said he would prefer Olympiakos to qualify from Group F.

The north London outfit face a must-win final group match at Olympiakos on December 9 that will decide who qualifies for the last 16 behind Bayern Munich. BBC Sport's Ian Dennis explained the minutiae:

Mourinho slammed Arsenal's group campaign—during which they have lost to Olympiakos, Dinamo Zagreb and Bayern Munich—and revealed he is backing the Greek side to qualify, as he is friends with their manager, Marco Silva, per Adrian Kajumba in the Mirror:  

"

I would always like English teams to qualify, first. They [Arsenal] are in a group where a kid friend of mine is the manager of Olympiakos and it would be fantastic for the kid’s career to go through. So I have to be honest and say that I would like the kid and Olympiakos to go on, and we know that Bayern go through for sure.

The reality is that Arsenal can still do it. Arsenal can perfectly go to Athens and win. Even doing a bad group phase – because to lose at home to Olympiakos and to lose in Zagreb and to lose six points they should win is bad – they can qualify. They can qualify.It’s not my problem, it’s their problem, but the reality is first of all they can qualify and secondly if they go into the Europa League then they become favourites [to win it].

So I think they can have success in the Champions League by going to the next round and they can succeed in the Europa League because then they become favourites, so I think they have a lot to play for.

"

The Blues boss rarely misses an opportunity to stoke the flames of his long-standing feud with Wenger.

The pair have had a fiery relationship since Mourinho first took over at Chelsea in 2004, and they almost came to blows in a touchline bust-up last season.

Despite Chelsea's travails in the Premier League—the defending champions lie 15th—they have fared slightly better in the Champions League, most recently beating Maccabi Tel Aviv 4-0 on Tuesday.

They are joint top of Group G with Porto on 10 points but are still yet to guarantee a spot in the first knockout round.

A victory or draw at Stamford Bridge over Porto in their final group game will guarantee them qualification, but a defeat could see the Blues knocked out of the competition, per Portuguese football writer Jan Hagen:

Wenger will obviously be desperate for his side to qualify from the group stages, and December's Olympiakos clash is arguably the Gunners' biggest match of the season so far.

Mourinho's comments will likely only spur the Frenchman on further, and Wenger would surely be extremely satisfied if Arsenal end up qualifying to the knockout rounds and Chelsea don't.

But Arsenal face the much tougher task, as Chelsea are in a strong position following Matchday 5 of the Champions League.