Kenyon: Mourinho right for Blues

Kenyon: Mourinho right for Blues

Published May. 5, 2013 9:15 a.m. ET

Bayer Leverkusen striker Stefan Kiessling insists there are no hard feelings towards team-mate Sidney Sam after he took, and missed, a penalty against Nurnberg.

Leverkusen won the game 2-0 but, having been successful from the spot once, Kiessling was looking to score his second of the game when he was brought down in the penalty area once more.

It would have been the chance for him to become the Bundesliga's leading scorer, having already set a new club record for goals in a season with his 23rd strike, but Sam stole the ball off him before hitting the post.

"He has apologised to me," said Kiessling.

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"Of course I wanted to take it myself, but that's all secondary anyway, I'm a sportsman."

Sam is likely to get away without any punishment from his club since Leverkusen held on to the points to qualify for the Champions League with two games to spare.

"This is an amazing achievement," said the club's director of sport Rudi Voller.

"It was not to be expected before the season.

"It is not something a club like Bayer Leverkusen can take for granted with the likes of Schalke, Wolfsburg and Hamburg, to name but a few, all behind us."

"We have deserved it too," added Kiessling.

"To be the first team behind the two best sides is fantastic and we can be really proud of it."

Rumours have been rife about a possible return for the Portuguese, who led Chelsea to back-to-back Premier League titles during his previous spell in charge.

Mourinho is currently coach of Real Madrid but has dropped several hints he may leave the Bernabeu at the end of the season and could be open to a move back to the Blues.

It was Mourinho's much-publicised falling-out with Chelsea owner Roman Abramovich which led to his departure in September 2007, but Kenyon thinks the Portuguese may give into the lure of working at Stamford Bridge once more.

"If I was at another club and looking for someone who would give me the maximum chance of winning, it's Jose Mourinho," Kenyon told BBC Radio 5 Live's Sportsweek programme.

"You've got one of the best clubs, one of the best owners and one of the best coaches - it's a hard combination to resist.

"I'd need some other very strong candidates to look elsewhere and you'd have to say he's very much on the shortlist.

"Pep Guardiola would have been up there (as a candidate) but he's not available. (Malaga coach) Manuel Pellegrini you would definitely look at.

"But if I was looking at Pellegrini or Jose, Jose would win hands down."

However, Kenyon warned that Mourinho and Abramovich will have to sit down and sort out their problems before there is any possibility of a Stamford Bridge reunion.

"They're both very strong individuals and before this appointment happens, if it happens, there will be an awful lot of discussion between those two," he said.

"It's a very different team now, that is at a very different part of its evolution as a major European team, and clarification is needed over players.

"Given the past history that they both know each other, they have both worked with each other, all that does is heighten the need for some of those things to be ironed out before the appointment is made."

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