Brash Jose is born winner

The Chelsea captain of the seventies continued: "As long as Roman Abramovich is at the club they'll simply go out and spend £30 million on one or two players as and when they're required. The teams with the best players invariably win the big trophies. And of course a coach of Mourinho's quality is the icing on the cake."

Mourinho may be petulant, brash and unpredictable, but he's also a winner. At 42, he can now add the Carling Cup to his two Portuguese titles, the UEFA Cup and the Champions League.

Winning is habit forming but, so sadly, is his penchant for controversy. Increasingly agitated as the clock ticked down, his celebration when Chelsea finally equalised with a Steve Gerrard own goal 11 minutes from time included a gesture - holding a finger to his lips - that

appeared aimed at the Liverpool fans behind his dugout.

Fourth official Phil Crossley ruled that Mourinho should leave the pitch. He was ushered inside the stadium where he watched the rest of the drama on a TV monitor.

Afterwards Mourinho insisted that he had aimed his gesture at his media critics, not the Liverpool fans. "I have great respect for the Liverpool fans," he insisted. "If I made a mistake I apologise. I have to adapt to your culture."

In front of a crowd of 71,622, Mourinho had been forced to watching his team trailing from the first minute, when John Arne Riise hit a thunderous volley, until the 80th and, despite dominating possession, grew increasingly frustrated by their inability to beat Jerzy Dudek.

"The attitude of my players was magnificent," insisted the Chelsea coach. "Liverpool were well organised and defended well, but we were the better team. We deserved to win.

"When we scored it was a big psychological boost for us. We were playing crazy football then, but I felt I had to change the team again to restore the balance."

It says something about Mourinho's willingness to take risks that his attacking line up when Chelsea equalised included, Drogba, Kezman, Duff and Cole with Gudjohnsen and Lampard in midfield.

Ironic, then, that it was a headed own goal by the unfortunate Gerrard that provided the equaliser and took an the match into extra time.

After that goal, Mourinho sent on Glen Johnson for Cole to give Chelsea a better balance - his last act before departing to watch the rest of the match on a TV monitor from where he saw Damien Duff, Mateja Kezman and Frank Lampard all squander chances that would have avoided the need for an extra 30 minutes.

But Liverpool's resilience faded rapidly in extra time. When Sami Hyypia failed to reach a throw from Johnson at the near post Drogba bundled the ball into the net. Five minutes later Kezman scored a similarly untidy goal that was the result of Chelsea pressure rather than imaginative football.

With eight minutes remaining Chelsea failed to deal with a Gerrard free kick and substitute Antonio Nunez headed home. But it was little consolation to Liverpool.

"When you're winning 1-0, have two clear chances to finish the game and then concede an own goal you have to say 'bad luck'," groaned Liverpool manager Rafael Benitez.

He is entitled to his point of view, but the truth is his side lost the first final of the season because Chelsea were the better team and Mourinho the better coach.