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‘I want Man City, Man United and Arsenal to lose in the Premier League but I don't want them to lose in the Champions League’
‘No English club has won the Champions League since Chelsea in 2012’
‘It is difficult for English teams to be successful’
Jose Mourinho was delighted that Chelsea made a winning start to their Champions League campaign on Wednesday, but said he was not happy that Manchester United, Manchester City and Arsenal had all lost their opening matches in this season's competition.
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Chelsea, who have made a poor start to the defence of their Premier League title winning only one of their opening five matches, cruised to a 4-0 win over Israeli champions Maccabi Tel Aviv at Stamford Bridge.
They were the only one of the EPL's four contenders to win after Manchester City were beaten 2-1 by Juventus and Manchester United lost 2-1 to PSV Eindhoven on Tuesday.
Arsenal were also beaten 2-1 at Dinamo Zagreb on Wednesday.
"I think it is sad and bad and I am not happy about it," said Mourinho. "I want Man City, Man United and Arsenal to lose in the Premier League but I don't want them to lose in the Champions League.
"It is not good for us. Season after season, it is difficult for English teams to be successful. At the start of the week if you can make 12 points (with all four winning) and you make only three, that is bad news."
Although the group stage has only just started, English clubs' records in Europe's top club competition in recent seasons has been patchy and could impact on how many teams get spots in the tournament.
England, Spain and Germany currently have four clubs eligible according to the coefficients UEFA use to determine how many clubs a country is entitled to enter into the competition.
There are five Spanish clubs this season as Sevilla entered as winners of last season's Europa League.
The top three clubs in the Premier League advance directly to the following season's group stage, while the team finishing fourth enters the playoffs.
No English club has won the Champions League since Chelsea in 2012, which was also the last season an English club reached the final.
None reached the quarter-finals last season and the EPL's right to four places could come under threat in two years time from Italy, their nearest challengers in the coefficient table, who currently provide three teams for the competition.
