Swansea City boss Carlos Carvalhal is primed to celebrate Premier League survival with a special gift from Jose Mourinho.
The Welsh side tackle Manchester City on Sunday and while safety cannot be assured this weekend, even with an unlikely win, they are confident it is just a matter of time.
Should their target be achieved, Carvalhal is ready to celebrate with his staff courtesy of a bottle of wine given to him by his countryman.
“I have a bottle that Mourinho gave me when we played them, a Portuguese wine, that I am ready to open with my staff if we stay in the Premier League like we expect and are optimistic about,” he told Sky Sports.
“It's a special bottle. I keep it because the wine is fantastic. He gave it to us and we will keep it until that special day, if we achieve it. I am looking forward to opening the wine. I am very excited for that, but first it's about focus and winning points.
“When we arrived we had 0.01 per cent chance of staying up, nobody believed we would, everybody thought the team would be relegated soon.
“Now we are optimistic, I don't know the percentage but we have changed things completely and we have things in our hand to stay in the Premier League.
“Everything is possible, but reality shows to us we have lost three games. We are achieving points in most of our games. I don't know why we wouldn't continue to do that until the end of the season. I believe we will and if we do we will stay up.”
Catherine Ivill
Pep Guardiola’s side have dominated the league this season, winning the title with five matches to spare, but this will be their first match after West Brom beat Manchester United last weekend to present them the title.
Despite the champions having nothing to play for, Carvalhal is under no illusion over the challenge that waits ahead.
“This is not our party at the weekend but we will try to do our best and get points, understanding that it will be one of the most difficult games of the season for all teams because they are champions,” he said.
