Jose Mourinho had to Google Marouane Fellaini's brother after case of mistaken identity ahead of Chelsea vs Manchester United

A doorman at team hotel had told Chelsea boss Fellaini wasn't playing

Tom Sheen
Tuesday 21 April 2015 14:52 BST
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Marouane Fellaini with twin brother Mansour (left)
Marouane Fellaini with twin brother Mansour (left) (Getty Images)

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Jose Mourinho was left reeling when he was told that Marouane Fellaini would not be starting for Manchester United at Stamford Bridge on Saturday.

The Chelsea manager had spent training last week preparing his team to nullify the threat of the big Belgian, settling on playing the excellent Kurt Zouma in a midfield man-marking role to combat his aerial strength.

Mourinho, leaving no stone unturned, had even used 6ft 4in teenager Ruben Loftus-Cheek as a Fellaini during the sessions.

But his plan was seemingly left in tatters when a doorman at Chelsea's pre-match hotel thought he had seen Fellaini turn up on the day of the game, meaning he wouldn't be available to play.

The doorman believed he was doing Mourinho a favour, telling him that Fellaini had arrived asking for tickets from Chelsea's Belgian star Eden Hazard.

"I came down in the morning and the doorman said, 'Fellaini isn’t playing'," Mourinho told reporters.

"The doorman asked him, 'What do you want here?' He said, 'I'm Fellaini and I’ve come to get tickets from my friend Eden Hazard'."

But Mourinho was not sure whether to believe the good intentions of the doorman, so decided to look for himself - and found it was Fellaini's twin brother, Mansour.

Marouane Fellaini with twin brother Mansour (left)
Marouane Fellaini with twin brother Mansour (left) (Getty Images)

"[It] Didn't smell well for me. I go to Google on my phone and I put in 'Fellaini brother'. The guy is the same.

"So I go with the pictures to the doorman. I say, 'This one or this one?' He looks, 'This one'.

"F*** off, he’s the brother," he said, smiling.

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