Real Madrid Coach Mourinho Says He’ll Remain With Team

Real Madrid coach Jose Mourinho said he’ll stay at the Spanish soccer club after being linked with the manager’s post at English Premier League team Chelsea in media reports.

Real Madrid lost to Bayern Munich in a penalty shootout last night in their Champions League semifinal. The 49-year-old Portuguese coach was attempting to win the elite European club competition with his third different team after victories with Porto and Inter Milan.

“If the club thinks I can keep doing things -- and I know they do -- I will continue,” Mourinho said at the Santiago Bernabeu stadium last night after the loss. “This group still has a lot of room to improve.”

Mourinho, in his second season at Real Madrid, left Chelsea in 2007 after guiding the Blues to two Premier League titles. The Daily Mirror reported on Feb. 29 that he may return when it reported he was spotted on a “secret London house-hunting mission” in west London.

Three days ago, the Daily Mail, another U.K. tabloid, said Chelsea owner Roman Abramovich might offer Mourinho a salary of 9 million pounds ($14 million) to lure him back.

Interim coach Roberto di Matteo led Chelsea since Andre Villas-Boas was fired on March 5. Chelsea beat Barcelona two days ago to reach the May 19 Champions League final, which will be played at Bayern’s Allianz Arena.

To contact the reporter on this story: Alex Duff in Madrid at aduff4@bloomberg.net

To contact the editor responsible for this story: Christopher Elser at celser@bloomberg.net