Chelsea crisis: Cesar Azpilicueta denies reports of player revolt against Jose Mourinho

Cesar Azpilicueta has called reports that certain Chelsea players would rather lose than win under Jose Mourinho a lie, insisting that the squad are fully committed to the Portuguese boss. The Spaniard said that the team proved their support for their manager in the Champions League win over Dynamo Kiev on 4 November.

Following the previous weekend's defeat to Liverpool, BBC Radio 5 live's reporter Garry Richardson revealed that a first-team player at Chelsea said he would rather lose than win for Mourinho — with some noting that the former Real Madrid manager's relationship with Eden Hazard was strained.

"I was told they're fed up with the way he's been dealing with some of them. They're fed up with his outbursts. I was told that his relationship, particularly with Eden Hazard, was under immense strain," Richardson added.

Mourinho left the Belgium international out of his line-up for the Dynamo clash, but asked about the squad's current feelings by Cadena Ser after the game about those speculations, Azpilicueta insisted: "We are 100% with Mourinho, no doubt.

"No player will ever want to lose to damage the boss. We know how football works, when results are not good people invent stories to try to destabilise the club. But anyone who sees the training sessions and the game with open eyes will see that that is 100% a lie.

"We all try to give the maximum and in the difficult times we must be more united than ever. We know that when you have a bad streaks things do not go your way but you have to deal with that and move forward, we took a little step by beating Dynamo in the Champions League and now we must continue to do the same in the Premier League."

Recent reports suggested Mourinho had been handed a last chance to halt the current crisis based on the results of the Dynamo match and the upcoming tie with Stoke City on Saturday.

Asked whether the players believed the situation was this dramatic, Azpilicueta replied: "We were aware of the reality, we played at home against a tough opponent, we had a pretty tough game against them in Kiev where we deserved more but couldn't get the three points. We knew we needed to fight from the very beginning to win the game."

"In the Champions League it is always difficult to win but we managed to do it and that is the important thing."