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Mourinho: Backing Spain for glory
Jose Mourinho believes the absence of England's players and supporters is to the detriment of Euro 2008 - and has backed Spain to take full advantage.
The Portuguese was one of those approached to replace Steve McClaren when the former Middlesbrough boss failed to guide England through to the finals in Austria and Switzerland.
And although he spurned that offer in favour of club management, in which he took charge of Internazionale this week, Mourinho is a major advocate of the English game and believes the national team will be sorely missed over the
coming weeks.
"England has massive support, always travels with thousands of fans and has players like Frank Lampard, Steven Gerrard and Wayne Rooney," said Mourinho.
Missed
"These are the kinds of players that Euros and World Cups need - so from that individual point of view they will miss them."Mourinho has also risked the wrath of his native Portugal by predicting that Spain are best placed to lift the European Championship trophy.
In particular, he believes the "easy" season enjoyed by the players of
runaway Primera Liga champions Real Madrid bodes well for Luis Aragones's team - who are seeking their first major tournament victory since the European Championship of 1964.
Speaking to Ford's football debate website www.feelfootball.com Mourinho added: "I think Spain has a lot of good players, many players that are playing outside of Spain who have adapted to a different football culture. They have players in England playing at this level and I think that is very important for them.
Great condition
"Real Madrid players, in my opinion, are in great condition because the season was quite easy for them. It was not difficult. They didn't play (much) Champions League because they were out in the last 16 and the league was easy for them because Barcelona was losing all the time so they didn't have pressure.
"So I think all of the boys who play for Real Madrid are in great condition to go and the same applies to Valencia players because they didn't play many matches during the season. So I believe they can arrive into a good position.
"Tradition says Spain is very strong at club level but didn't gel really well in national team final phases - but who knows if they can do it this time."
