Chelsea coach defends Essien

Chelsea coach Jose Mourinho stood up to Ratomir Dujkovic after the Ghana boss slammed midfielder Michael Essien for missing Ghana’s African Cup of Nations matches in Egypt.

The 23-year-old Ghana international, who picked up an ankle injury when playing for Chelsea against West Ham last month, received criticism from Dujkovic after World Cup-bound Ghana made an early exit from the African Cup’s round robin stage.

"Essien is proud of his country and a great patriot,” Mourinho was quoted as saying by Sky Sports.

"His injury from the West Ham game was a bad one.”

Dujkovic also threatened to eliminate the former Lyon player from the squad list to play in Germany this summer, especially after Essien appeared in the Chelsea-Liverpool Premiership match on Sunday having recovered from his injury.

"The comments from the manager of Ghana after his team had gone out of the competition were not fair to a great player who was injured and has been responsible for them going to the World Cup," added Mourinho.

Despite Dujkovic’s comments, Essien remains committed to his country and promised to take part in any warm-up matches scheduled before the World Cup finals.

Ghana was drawn in Group E in the World Cup finals alongside Italy, USA and the Czech Republic.