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Mourinho writes off Chelsea

Jose Mourinho takes a Real Madrid training session © PA Photos

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Real Madrid boss Jose Mourinho has written off the chances of an emotional meeting with his former club Chelsea in the Champions League final.

Real breezed into a semi-final clash with German powerhouses Bayern Munich courtesy of a 5-2 (8-2agg) win over APOEL, while Chelse saw off Benfica 3-1 on aggregate.

Chelsea's reward is a meeting with champions Barcelona and Mourinho feels Pep Guardiola's superstars will have too much class for his former charges.

"Barcelona aren't the favourites, they are super-favourites,'' Mourinho said. "Let me be honest, I don't think the final will be a Real Madrid/Chelsea final. It could be Bayern or Barcelona, I just don't think it will be Real Madrid v Chelsea and we know why.''

Mourinho was happy to have had the opportunity to rest some players ahead of a difficult month and was relishing the prospect of facing Bayern after seeing his side secure their progress.

"Bayern is a very powerful opponent," Mourinho said. "It is a team I know well as it is almost the same side that I played when coach of Inter Milan in the Champions League final two years ago and they have great individual players.

"The players and myself are looking forward to what should be a great semi-final. The team is doing well, the players that were injured are getting there and we are physically prepared for the difficult April that we have.

"We wanted to build a team to win the game. Because I didn't think it was possible for Apoel to score four, we wanted to rest a few players and we attempted to balance things.

"We wanted to rest Marcelo and (Esteban) Granero so we substituted them and there might have been a few defensive errors towards the end, but I don't have any criticism, just positive words for a group that have reached this stage for two seasons in a row.''

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