Former Chelsea defender, Ricardo Carvalho has opened up on the part he and his other Portuguese teammates played in helping Jose Mourinho settle in fast after his first appointment at Chelsea.

Mourinho was named Chelsea boss in 2004 after winning the UEFA Champions League with FC Porto. The 60-year-old also went on to achieve great success at Stamford Bridge, and Carvalho now claims he and the other Portuguese speaking stars that followed the coach from Porto to Chelsea were instrumental to him being widely accepted at the West London club.

The 45-year-old recalled to the official Chelsea website: “Maybe at the start with the technical staff, it helped to have me and Paulo there. Jose knew us very well, he knew how we reacted with bad words or good words.

“Myself and Paulo respected the way he is and in Portugal, it was always that the coaches were for speaking and the players were for training. So we didn’t complain a lot!

“He liked working that way at that time. But, to be fair, the wins helped and everyone in the club respected the way Mourinho was at that time, so we didn’t take the bad words personally.

“That was just the way he was – and the other players knew because Jose was the same when he shouted at me or shouted at Paulo or Tiago. The others saw that you didn’t react, you just respect. He’s the boss, that’s him, so you just have to try to do your best.

“Maybe it was a good way for Mourinho to show to everyone that he was the boss. If he shouts at me, he shouts at Paulo, then he can shout at everyone. It’s the way he is.

“To be fair, even JT, Lamps, Drogba, everyone, he earned their respect because you want to win. Sometimes it happens that you don’t agree with what the coach says, or you have a different way of thinking, but in reality when you go to the games and you win, after that you start to believe that maybe you are wrong and his way works.

“So we had to follow him because he was getting victory after victory and as players, we were getting stronger.

“In the end, we won the Premier League after 50 years of Chelsea not winning it, so it’s more about that. Even if we don’t agree with something, if you have your own ideas, when you see that he’s getting victory after victory you have to believe in him and you have to follow him.”