Jose Mourinho believes Chelsea can still reign supreme in the Champions League, with the embattled manager insisting favourites do not always triumph in Europe.

Chelsea have found the going tough domestically this season, the Premier League title holders languishing 14 points off the pace in 15th position.

The Champions League, though, has offered Mourinho some joy.

Chelsea – second in Group G – can qualify for the knockout rounds with a match to spare if they overcome Maccabi Tel-Aviv and Dynamo Kiev fail to beat Porto on Tuesday.

And Mourinho remains hopeful about Chelsea's chances, pointing to his against-the-odds tournament triumphs with Porto and Inter.

"I know – and also Chelsea – we know that sometimes you win when you are not the favourites," said the Portuguese.

"When I won it twice with Porto and Inter we were far from favourites. We were not even top 10 favourites.

"When Chelsea won, it was a very bad season they had and they won it. So we know the Champions League has these big doses of unpredictability."

Mourinho added: "We have destiny in our hands. We can even reach 13 points if we win both of our last two matches.

"So, let's try to qualify and live for the last match against Porto with a fight for the first.

"Objective one is to qualify. Objective two is to finish first and if we win this game we have a big chance to qualify immediately, but a victory is good for both objectives."