Coach dismisses move as Bayern are next hurdle on the way to Paisley's cup record
In each of his two previous appearances in the Champions League final, it was already an open secret that, win or lose, Jose Mourinho was preparing for the next challenge in his remarkable coaching career.
The vacancy at Chelsea has ensured that his future is again the subject of fervent debate but, with Real Madrid just 180 minutes away from delivering Mourinho a record-equalling third European Cup, he has given the clearest sign yet that he will stay.
"I have a contract and there is no reason why I wouldn't stay," he said. "It is better to stay at a club for four or five years. At the moment my future is not important, but I think I will be here next season.
"Once we arrive at the end of the season I will have time to speak with the players and the directors and we will decide what is best for me, for the club and for the squad."
As ever with Mourinho, the context is everything. Having spent much of the season at war with the Madrid-based media and flirting with a return to the Premier League, his stock could hardly now be higher.
Victory over Barcelona at the Nou Camp on Saturday has put Madrid in a strong position to land their first La Liga title since 2008.
Madrid do face a 2-1 first-leg deficit before tonight's (Wednesday's) Champions League semi-final second leg against Bayern Munich but, as Mourinho was happy to point out, the truest test of a team is in their domestic league. "I don't know if the Champions League is more important than the league, because the best team always wins the league and this isn't always the case in Europe," he said.
Should Madrid convert their seven-point lead over Barcelona in La Liga, it would be the seventh time that Mourinho has won the domestic league title in his nine completed seasons in football management.
Yet it is in the Champions League that football history really beckons. Overcome Munich tonight and Mourinho would have the chance to match Bob Paisley's all-time record of three European Cups. In Mourinho's case, the unique twist is that the achievement would be spread across three clubs and three countries.
Mourinho, though, seemed to recall the defeats most acutely yesterday and highlighted his "bad luck" in having also lost at the semi-final stage of the competition on three previous occasions.
"The final of the Champions League is the most important thing in football," said -Mourinho. "Tonight is almost like a long-awaited final, but I see calmness in the players. I don't like an excess of emotion, nor a lack of it."
One huge concern tonight, both for Mourinho and Munich manager Jupp Heynckes, is that 11 players across the two teams are just one booking from missing the final.
Mourinho will instruct his players to put the team first. "A player can't be an egoist," he said. "I would sign now for me to not be in Munich [for the final] and stay in my house if it means the team reaches the final."
Unlike Mourinho, who had Saturday's showdown against Barcelona, Heynckes has been able to rest key players from domestic competition since last week's first leg.
Heynckes, however, has had to deal with the extraordinary fallout from a confrontation between Arjen Robben and Franck Ribery during last week's first-leg win - it was reported in Germany that Ribery even aimed a punch at Robben during half-time of the match. A club spokesman responded by saying simply: "Whatever happens in the locker room stays there."
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
)
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
)
)
)
)
)
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}