Mourinho expects Chelsea to recover from Cup humiliation

Jose Mourinho insists Chelsea will quickly recover from its humiliating FA Cup exit against third-tier Bradford because most of his star players missed the stunning fourth round defeat.

Mourinho suffered one of the most embarrassing defeats of his career as the Premier League leader squandered a two-goal lead in its 2-4 loss at Stamford Bridge on Saturday.

Chelsea's first defeat to lower-league opposition since 2008 ended its bid to win all four of the major trophies on offer this season and left Blues boss Mourinho ashamed of the performance. But Chelsea has a golden opportunity to erase the bitter taste of its FA Cup misery when it hosts Liverpool in the League Cup semifinal second leg on Tuesday in a tie delicately poised after the first leg finished 1-1 last week.

Manchester City then visits the Bridge on Saturday in a showdown certain to have a major influence on the destination of the title.

Mourinho believes most of his players should not carry any scars from the Bradford defeat as he made eight changes against the League One side, with Eden Hazard and Cesc Fabregas only featuring as substitutes and Diego Costa left out of the squad.

"Does this affect the next match? I don't know because many of the players were not directly involved in the game, I don't think these players can be affected," Mourinho said. "I don't think (Branislav) Ivanovic, (Nemanja) Matic, Diego (Costa); these guys that were not involved in the game can be affected.

"But it is our team and we lost at home against a lower division team. In an ideal world it would affect us in a positive and not a negative way. We have to win the next match and let's go for it."

Mourinho had admitted before the match that Chelsea's best chance of winning the Premier League would be to exit the three cup competitions that it is competing in. But he was insistent that he cared about the FA Cup despite being on the wrong end of one of the competition's most memorable upsets.

"I feel ashamed and I think the players should feel exactly the same as I feel," Mourinho said. "By one side this is the beauty of football, the beauty of the FA Cup. But I repeat the word that I used yesterday in case we lost — it's a disgrace.

"I don't chose competitions; the most important competition now is the League Cup because it's the next game we play. Obviously the Premier League is in front of the cups but we prepare things in a serious and professional way. I can't say in this moment that we don't care about the FA Cup. We lose and we care."

Manchester City also followed Chelsea out of the FA Cup, losing 0-2 to Championship high-fliers Middlesbrough at the Etihad Stadium. Southampton was beaten 2-3 by Crystal Palace.

Manchester United faces a replay against fourth-division Cambridge United while Bolton Wanderers earned a replay with Liverpool.

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