Mourinho gets own chat show

Jose Mourinho has been offered the chance to star in his own chat show on Portuguese television.

As the Chelsea head coach prepares to face UEFA charges of lying over the Anders Frisk controversy today, it has emerged he is to be given another outlet to air his outspoken opinions.

The 50-minute live show, to be carried on Portuguese broadcaster SIC, will be shown monthly, with the first programme scheduled for 18 April.

Martim Cabral, SIC's managing editor for news, said: "The new show will be on at super prime time. He's willing to talk about everything except politics. We expect huge interest."

Chelsea will today point to inconsistencies in UEFA's evidence as the main plank of their defence when their disrepute charge is heard in Nyon. The club, Mourinho, assistant manager Steve Clarke and security official Les Miles stand accused of telling lies to create a poisonous atmosphere between themselves and Barcelona by alleging Frisk met Frank Rijkaard during half-time of their Champions League clash in the Nou Camp.

Chelsea are adamant they have done nothing wrong and will argue there are discrepancies in the statements provided by Frisk and UEFA's match-day delegate, Thomas Giordano, describing events in the tunnel at the Nou Camp.

The club will stop short of insisting that an unlawful meeting between Frisk and Rijkaard took place in the referee's dressing room but they will argue the claims of Clarke and Miles were made in good faith and they did not deliberately provide false evidence.

Chelsea will be represented by club secretary David Barnard in Nyon but one notable absentee is UEFA's director of communications, William Gaillard, who has been an outspoken critic of the club throughout the entire process.

It has been suggested that Gaillard has been instructed to stay away by UEFA as he has become an embarrassment to the organisation, but the Frenchman insisted he was merely fulfilling a long-standing commitment to a NATO peace project in Italy.