THIS IS VERY SERIOUS.

Maybe Mourinho doesn’t remember that on the day Chelsea landed in Tel Aviv in October 2001, the country’s tourism minister, Rehavam Ze’evi, was shot and killed by terrorists at the Hyatt Hotel in Jerusalem. The situation might be tense now. It was more tense then.

The thing is, everyone has a choice. Everyone has reasons for what they do. Some players back in 2001 decided their first responsibility lay with their families rather than their club. Le Saux’s wife had just given birth to their second child, Lucas. That affected his thinking. Others made different decisions for different reasons.

The players who chose not to go to Israel 14 years ago showed great courage, too. They knew what would be aimed at them, perhaps for the rest of their careers. They knew that men like Mourinho would take cheap shots at them. They did what they thought was right.

The irony, of course, is that Le Saux is still doing what he thinks is right. He still has the courage of his convictions. That is why Mourinho picked him as a target this week, not Desailly or Gallas or Ferrer or Petit or Gudjohnsen.

Mourinho picked on Le Saux because he had the courage to speak out for what he believed in.

‘The biggest disappointment for me,’ Le Saux had said, ‘is that Mourinho doesn’t seem to have reflected on the damage he has done to his own image, the reputation of the club and, more important, the reputation of the entire game.’

Mourinho singled out former defender Le Saux from among the six former Chelsea players who chose not to travel to play in a Uefa Cup tie against Hapoel Tel Aviv in Israel in 2001