Jose Mourinho accuses the Premier League of damaging English clubs' chances in the Champions League

The Manchester United boss believes other countries care more about the competition

Jose Mourinho believes the Premier League are making it harder for English sides in Europe (Getty Images)

Manchester United boss Jose Mourinho believes Premier League clubs will struggle in Europe this season because ‘other countries care more about the Champions League’ and give more help to their sides.

Manchester City, Arsenal, Tottenham and Leicester City begin their Champions League campaigns this week, with no English club reaching the final since Chelsea won it in 2012.

Mourinho believes the reason for this lack of success in recent years is down to the tough scheduling of the Premier League and has called for all four teams involved in the competition to be offered preferential treatment when the fixtures are picked for the new Friday night slots.

Mourinho, who has won the Champions League with Porto and Inter Milan, told the Daily Mail: “The Premier League and internal competitions create a very difficult situation for the clubs.

“Other countries care a lot about the Champions League.

“In this country the Premier League will always come in front. The institutions that lead the competitions make it very clear.

Jose Mourinho won the Champions League with Inter Milan and Porto (Getty Images)

“The institutions do not give you that little protection which can be crucial – 24 hours more, 48 hours more, to rest and prepare.

“Now you have a Friday night fixture, so if an English club is in an [important] Champions League [game] on a Tuesday I'd expect that they would be given the Friday fixture, to have one more day to rest. But I don't know because until now nobody has had that protection.”