Mourinho: 'Euro 2008 needs England'

Jose Mourinho believes England's absence from Euro 2008 is a huge blow for the tournament.

The former Chelsea boss admitted that the loss of the likes of Wayne Rooney and Steven Gerrard is a huge loss for the tournament which is the first England have failed to qualify for since the 1994 World Cup finals.

He said: "England has massive support, always travels with thousands of fans and has players like Frank Lampard, Steven Gerrard and Wayne Rooney.

"These are the kinds of players that Euros and World Cups need - so from that individual point of view they will miss them."

Mourinho has also predicted that Spain are best placed to lift the trophy on June 29.

He said: "I think Spain has a lot of good players, many players that are playing outside of Spain who have adapted to a different football culture. They have players in England playing at this level and I think that is very important for them.

Mourinho added: "Real Madrid players, in my opinion, are in great condition because the season was quite easy for them. It was not difficult. They didn't play (much) Champions League because they were out in the last 16 and the league was easy for them because Barcelona was losing all the time so they didn't have pressure.

"Tradition says Spain is very strong at club level but didn't gel really well in national team final phases - but who knows if they can do it this time."

The Euro 2008 finals kick off this weekend.

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