Maccabi Tel-Aviv vs Chelsea: Jose Mourinho in Graeme Le Saux jibe after Paris attack on Blues' return to Israel

Le Saux criticised Mourinho over his handling of his incident with Dr Eva Carneiro but the Chelsea manager chose to single the defender out from a group that did not travel to Israel following terrorist attacks in 2001

Chelsea manager Jose Mourinho (Getty Images)

The whole Chelsea squad have travelled to Israel for tomorrow’s Champions League game with Maccabi Tel-Aviv, a situation which Jose Mourinho used to remind the world that former Chelsea left-back Graeme Le Saux pulled out of a trip to Israel in 2001.

Le Saux was one of six players – along with Marcel Desailly, Emmanuel Petit, Eidur Gudjohnsen, William Gallas and Albert Ferrer – who did not travel to Israel to face Hapoel Tel Aviv in October 2001, just one month after the 9/11 attacks.

What sets Le Saux apart from those five is that, last month, he criticised Mourinho over the Dr Eva Carneiro affair. Le Saux wrote that Mourinho should have apologised to Dr Carneiro, and that Mourinho’s conduct risked sending football “back 30 years”.

When Mourinho discussed the issue of security at his pre-match press conference at the Sammy Ofer Stadium in Haifa this afternoon, he decided to mention Le Saux.

“The best way is to focus on football, and the happiness you have to play football, the responsibility you have to play football,” Mourinho said. “Leave security questions to people who know more than we do, and people who can do things we can't do. We just focus on playing. I didn't have a single problem within the squad. I didn't have a Graeme Le Saux. I had everybody without fears, just wanting to come.”

“I had even a player who, maybe, whose wife is going to have a baby either tomorrow or the next day but he's here, focusing on what he can do for us. So we're here focusing on getting a result. We need that for our happiness, our pride, and the people who support us.”