Jose Mourinho has revealed that a player from the 2004/05 title-winning squad recently claimed they could beat the current team with just two weeks' training.
Twenty years since that triumph, many involved are now in their mid-40s. turned 52 earlier this year.
Anthony Grant, who made just a single appearance during that season, is the only squad member still playing. He does so for Welling United in the National League South.
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did not identify who made the claim, aside from acknowleding they are around 45 years old. He also clarified that it was not one of or .
"One of these players of 2004/05, a few weeks ago, when Chelsea played Arsenal. One of the guys wrote me a message," Mourinho told .
"I won't tell you who it is, but the guy is now, I say, 45 years old, something like that. All of them are more or less 45.
"And one of them wrote to me, it was not John or Frank, and told me, 'boss, if you got together the 2004/05 team now and went on a training camp for two weeks, we would beat the current Chelsea team'.
"Of course, it was a joke. But this was a message of we were so good; we were so, so strong that 45 years old, we train for two weeks, and we beat the current Chelsea team. Between us, we are still a team."
Mourinho was also bullish about where that side ranks among the greatest teams in Premier League history. "Honestly, I don't care about the way people look at it," he said.
"And I hope the Chelsea community, the Chelsea fans, give you the same answer that I do. I don't give a s***.
"What for me is important is the Chelsea community. Because, in the end, the titles belong to the community.
"Arsenal people, Man United people, Man City people, they don't give a s*** about Chelsea 2004/05. In the same way as us, Chelsea, we don't give a s*** about the Invincibles or what they did.
"What matters is what we know. We know what we did and what we share between us."
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