Chelsea coach Jose Mourinho has hit back at Ghana boss Ratomir Dujkovic for criticising midfielder Michael Essien after they crashed out of the African Nations Cup in Egypt.

Essien returned to action in Chelsea's 2-0 win over Liverpool at Stamford Bridge yesterday after finally recovering from the ankle ligament injury he collected in the 3-1 win over West ham at the start of the year.

The injury put paid to Essien's hopes of playing in the African Nations Cup and the former Lyon player was singled out for criticism by Dujkovic after Ghana's exit in the group stages.

The Ghanaian coach even hinted that he might not select the Chelsea midfielder for this summer's World Cup in Germany after appearing to question his commitment to the country.

But Mourinho said: "He is proud of his country and a great patriot. His injury from the West Ham game was a bad one.

"It has kept him out for a month and although it was a foul, the player who committed it was not suspended. Essien has recovered well.

"The comments from the manager of Ghana after his team had gone out of the competition were not fair to a great player who was injured and has been responsible for them going to the World Cup."

Ghana failed to make it past the group stages of the African Nations Cup.

After losing 1-0 to Nigeria in their opening game, they beat Senegal but surprisingly went down to Zimbabwe in their crucial last match.

Some fans have since called for Dujkovic to be sacked but Essien urged them to be patient and promised to play in any friendlies arranged prior to the World Cup finals.