Chelsea players William Gallas (left) and Frank Lampard celebrate their 2-0 win over Bolton which secured the London club their first English league title in 50 years. Picture / Reuters
Chelsea coach Jose Mourinho described his players and staff as a "special group" after their 2-0 win at Bolton secured the club's first English league title for 50 years.
"The whole group is a special group, they deserve this," the Portuguese coach said.
"Nobody speaking with fairness and sense can
say we don't deserve it because we did it absolutely magnificently.
"It's a special group ... that's why I want to stay here ... My heart is here."
Mourinho, who took over at the start of the season after leading Porto to last year's Champions League title, said there were many aspects to the success. "The mentality, the ambition, the desire ... people from many different places met for the first time in July and from that moment we built something.
"When we have to play, we play; when we have to fight, we fight and when we have to suffer, we suffer - always together.
"This was the perfect game to be champions. It was a very difficult game, we had to adapt and we fought like lions and the players deserve it."
Mourinho has been the tactical brains behind Chelsea's success while a spending spree of well over $760 million since Abramovich's takeover in 2003 has provided a stream of top players. England midfielder Frank Lampard got both goals to cap a wonderful season and take over as the club's top scorer, with 18 strikes.
"The fans here deserve it, they've been magnificent," he said. "After the miss in midweek [the 0-0 draw in the Champions League semifinal first leg against Liverpool], it's the best way to repay them. We wanted to win the league and now we want to beat Liverpool," he said, referring to the second leg at Anfield on Wednesday.
- REUTERS
