Mourinho complains of culture clash

Jose Mourinho may not be overly impressed with Premier League officials right now but he thinks standards in Europe are worse.

As the Chelsea head coach prepares his side for their opening Champions League game against Rosenborg tomorrow night it is not just dubious offside decisions he will remind his team to beware of.

Mourinho was seething at the weekend after Salomon Kalou's goal was ruled out by referee's assistant Peter Kirkup in the goalless draw with Blackburn, claiming it was "so pure, so clean, it is like water".

He is awaiting a call from referees' chief Keith Hackett apologising for the offside decision but says officials from other countries leave him with more to worry about. "When we play in European competitions, and we face teams from other cultures, it's not easy because everything is different," Mourinho said on the new 'soccumentary' film about Chelsea, Blue Revolution.

"Referees are different. In England, they defend a lot the fair play and the pure game and the competitiveness, and they receive it in a good way. You go to European competitions and you see people doing a lot of things in the grey side of the game.

"I feel because we cannot change the world of football we have to adapt to that reality. But our game in the Premiership is the best place for professionals to enjoy their jobs."

The referee for tomorrow's game is Laurent Duhamel, who took charge of Chelsea's win against Levski Sofia in the Champions League a year ago without major incident.

Mourinho's side face Rosenborg at Stamford Bridge without Didier Drogba, who hopes his knee will recover in time for the trip to Manchester United on Sunday.

But Frank Lampard may return after his thigh problem and Claudio Pizarro should be back after missing Blackburn because of jetlag. Goals after two games without scoring would ease the pressure building on Chelsea even if they come against the expected whipping boys of Group B. Chelsea should have a slightly better chance after being seeded for the first time but Mourinho is still not satisfied.

He said: "It is a dangerous group. Chelsea are first seeds, Valencia second - two teams involved in the quarter-finals last season. When two of the best eight teams from the previous Champions League are in the same group it makes it very difficult."

Steffen Iversen insists Rosenborg need a miracle to pull off a shock at Chelsea but says they have produced one in the Champions League before. The former Tottenham striker is in his second spell with the Norwegians and was in the team which went through to the quarter-finals in 1996-1997, beating AC Milan in Italy en route.

He said: "We beat Milan back then so miracles do happen and we have to hope for another one at Stamford Bridge.

"The whole of Norway remembers that result. It will be David versus Goliath against Chelsea."

Blue Revolution, a film about the last three years of Chelsea FC, is out on 24 September and will be available to buy at www. chelseamegastore.com