Jose Mourinho's weakness has been exposed by his own hubris. The man who belittled Liverpool as a "cup team" was himself a diminished figure after the Champions League semi-final exit at Anfield on Tuesday night. His rambling reaction to the disappointment, in which he untenably claimed Chelsea had deserved to win the match and that Liverpool had sought only to force a penalty shoot-out, had all the cogency of King Lear's "matter and impertinency mixed".

Now it remains to be seen what fate the gods of Stamford Bridge have in store for the Chelsea manager, particularly given the absence of Roman Abramovich from the scene of the defeat. Abramovich was said to have been on "private business" - he had intended to be at Anfield, it was said, but his plans had to change in the 24 hours before the game.

Yet the Russian has in the past moved mountains to attend important matches. Abramovich was reputedly so captivated by Manchester United's seven-goal defeat of Real Madrid in the 2003 quarter-finals that he bought Chelsea only two months later.

Now, 90 minutes from the Athens final and leading 1-0 after the first leg, this apparently omnipotent figure could not attend the all-Premiership tie that might have delivered the first such showpiece event in his club's 100-year history.

Events have been building to this. About 15 months ago the Russian oligarch made it clear he had grown tired of his team's tactics under Mourinho, that he would prefer an attacking team stuffed with superstars, one "for 100 years". In the meantime the Special One's success had been a sop, but Chelsea have regressed in terms of titles over the past 12 months and, with United having opened a five-point Premiership lead, half the hoped-for quadruple has been removed in the space of four days.

It is a point which the Liverpool chief executive, Rick Parry, drew mischievous attention to yesterday when he said: "I guess when you've invested £500 million, it's a fantastic season to win the League Cup. He's welcome to his opinions, we care about Liverpool." With the pressure building from all quarters it is little wonder Mourinho is beginning to sound rattled. "I saw one team playing in blue, playing to win," he said, perhaps trying to reinforce his attacking credentials to a disappointed paymaster.

"Liverpool had a short good period in the first half. After that, the best team were the blue team. Chelsea tried to win the game over 90 minutes. In extra-time, Chelsea tried to win. We put every front player in the box in extra-time, showing clearly we wanted to win the game."

After that largely baseless argument Mourinho turned to excuses. "I cannot believe next season we will have 20 injuries, that we'll begin with surgery on the first day and end with surgery on the last day," he said. "It's an incredibly negative season in terms of big injuries. Not small injuries, big injuries."

Pride seems not to be an overwhelming sentiment of Abramovich right now. Even if not intended as a public protest at his manager, he must have known his movements would be interpreted as such and that the angst will not assist Mourinho's attempts to lift the team for the FA Cup final against United in a fortnight.

Chelsea would point out it is little more than a week since the chief executive, Peter Kenyon, issued a statement of seemingly solid support for Mourinho when he announced the Portuguese had a contract until 2010 "and we're not going to sack him".

However, with such uncertainty the Chelsea manager is now receiving an insight into how life will unfold in west London if he insists on remaining at the club for the duration of that deal. It is expected Abramovich will bring his friend, Avram Grant, to Chelsea to act as a technical director, effectively removing responsibility for first-team transfers from Mourinho.

This is Mourinho's emasculating reward for railing so often against his employer's perceived refusal to back him in the transfer market, for failing to establish an accord with Frank Arnesen, and for having repeatedly threatened to quit over his own pay and the contracts of his staff.

In Abramovich's homeland, where he is a senior political figure, the bear is the national symbol. He demands loyalty from his associates and it looks like the petulant Portuguese has piqued his ursine pride. If Mourinho limps on until, like Lear, his reign ends in a fit of tormented anguish, it will be a wonder he has endured so long.

Guardian Service