Arjen Robben believes Jose Mourinho can be the first manager to win the Champions League with three different clubs, describing his former Chelsea boss as the "special one for special games."
Mourinho announced himself on the European stage in 2004, when he went racing down the Old Trafford touchline after a last-minute goal earned Porto a famous win 3-2 aggregate win over Manchester United in their semifinal tie. They went on to win Europe's premier cup competition that season.
The Portuguese coach left for Chelsea that summer but, despite winning back-to-back Premier League titles, parted ways with the club after he failed to deliver the trophy owner Roman Abramovich craved most. Mourinho subsequently joined Inter Milan and won the trophy for the Italian side within two years.
Now back at Stamford Bridge, Mourinho has guided Chelsea to two wins and a draw in the Champions League so far this season, and Robben -- trying to win it with Bayern Munich for a second time -- believes his former boss can write himself into history.
"If somebody can do it as a manager, he can," Robben told the Daily Telegraph. "He is a specialist when it comes to preparing his teams for the big games, tactically and mentally.
"You cannot forget that they also have some very good players in the team, but he is the ideal guy for them. He is the special one for the special games.
"I see Chelsea, and Arsenal, too. They are always a dangerous team.
"Obviously, if we win our group and they come second in theirs, you already know who we will play in the last 16 after our meetings in recent seasons.
"But you have those two, you have Juventus, Real, Barcelona, Dortmund and a lot of other good teams in the Champions League, so it is going to be very difficult to win this year."