Jose Mourinho insists Chelsea have no interest in a potential Europa League campaign as they still believe they can win the Champions League this season.
The Blues require a draw at Stamford Bridge on Wednesday to book their place in the last 16 of the Champions League against a Porto side that have lost on each of their last three visits to England.
A repeat of Saturday's shock 1-0 defeat at home to Bournemouth, however, would send Chelsea into the Europa League and mean they would either have to win the competition or overturn a 14-point deficit in the Premier League to ensure their continued presence in the Champions League next season.
In the wake of the Bournemouth loss Mourinho admitted that a top-four finish might be out of Chelsea's reach, but speaking at a media conference on Tuesday, he reiterated that a Europa League run is not in his plans for this campaign.
"I know that in this moment, it looks that to win the Europa League would be an easier way to be in the Champions League next season than to finish in the top four," Mourinho said. "But there is another possibility, which is to win the Champions League. Yes, it is harder than winning the Europa League, but this is the competition we are in."
Former Manchester United defender Rio Ferdinand described competing in the Europa League as an "embarrassment" on BT Sport after Louis van Gaal's men were knocked out of the Champions League by Wolfsburg on Tuesday, and Mourinho insists there is a vast gulf in the quality of the competitions.
"I was always against the teams that are knocked out of the Champions League going to the Europa League because I think there is such a difference in the level of competition," he added. "It is not fair for the teams that are in the Europa League to do the group phase then in February to get the teams that are knocked out of the Champions League.
"I think if you are knocked out of the Champions League, you should go home and focus on domestic competitions. We want to play Barcelona, Real Madrid, Bayern [Munich] -- we want to play all the big teams and for that we need to win on Wednesday."