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LONDON. — Jose Mourinho faces a decisive moment in his fight to save his job as the beleaguered Chelsea manager bids to avoid a catastrophic exit from the Champions League soccer against Porto tonight.

The match kicks-off at 9:45pm.

Mourinho is on the brink of being sacked by Blues owner Roman Abramovich after Saturday’s stunning 1-0 home defeat against lowly Bournemouth left the crisis-torn English Premier League champions languishing just two points above the relegation zone.

Mourinho was given a public vote of confidence by Chelsea at the start of October, but Abramovich’s patience is wearing thin as the club’s worst start to a season in his 12-year ownership shows no signs of improving.

But Mourinho says he is not solely responsible for Chelsea’s demise this season amid speculation he could be sacked.

Mourinho is confident he retains the support of the club’s owner Abramovich on the eve of the Champions League match against Porto which could determine his future at Stamford Bridge.

At a lively news conference yesterday, the under-pressure Mourinho was in more defiant but good-natured mood than of late, insisting that he was an “optimist” and that his struggles this season had made him a better manager.

Mourinho was asked whether if he failed to make the Champions League knock-out stages — a fate which could befall Chelsea if they do not beat his old side Porto in the Group G finale — he still expected to be manager for next Monday’s Premier League match against leaders Leicester City.

“There are no ifs,” he told his questioner. “You are a pessimist — I am an optimist.”

Asked why he was confident of the support of chairman Abramovich, an owner with a penchant for quickly disposing of under-achieving managers, Mourinho said: “Because I think I did lots of good things for this club for the owner to know the quality I have.

“He believed in me twice. One, when he brought me back to the club, and the second time when he gave me a new four-year contract.

“I don’t think the owner is a person to change with the wind. I know this wind is really strong because the results in the Premier League are really bad but I think the owner knows what I give to the club and he believes I am the right man to do the job.”

Although Mourinho has continued to insist he retains the support of his players amid rumours of a dressing room mutiny against his hard-line style, the limp manner of their surrender against Bournemouth suggested otherwise.

Abramovich held talks with his closest Chelsea aides, Marina Granovskaia and Michael Emenalo, over the weekend and it is reported the Russian told Mourinho he must lead the team into the last 16 of the Champions League to avoid the axe.

Chelsea need only a draw at Stamford Bridge in their final Group G fixture to be certain of a place in the knock-out stages, but what in previous years would have been a foregone conclusion for a team managed by Mourinho now looks a decidedly more taxing task.

Once virtually unbeatable at the Bridge under Mourinho, Chelsea have lost four times on home turf this season and Porto, who need a win to be sure of progressing, are unlikely to prove a pushover after beating the west Londoners in Portugal earlier this season. — AFP.