Mourinho had seemingly intimated that he planned to leave Madrid at the end of the season, having grown tired of the behind-the-scenes politics and in-fighting at the club.

Given that Mourinho left both Porto and Inter Milan straight after winning the Champions League, it may appear that winning a third title in May would pave the way for a summer departure, but he said in AS: "That's not the reason I left.

"I left Porto because I thought it was time to leave and I had other ambitions. I'd decided to leave Inter before we played the final."

Asked whether success or failure in the Champions League would impact on his Real Madrid future, he replied: "No."

Madrid have won four games in a row since exiting the Copa del Rey to Barcelona and are currently ten points clear in La Liga, and Mourinho feels that is the greater gauge of a club's quality.

He added: "For me, La Liga is the most important thing because it is the competition in which the best team always wins out. In the Champions League, the best team doesn't always win.

"When you win a league, it's very good for the coach's self-esteem, because he knows he's done a good job throughout the year."

Madrid take on CSKA Moscow in Russia on Tuesday in the first leg of their Champions League second-round tie.