José Mourinho has raised the stakes before Real Madrid's Champions League semi-final against Bayern Munich on Tuesday night, having a go at luminaries from the German club who have predicted a victory for the home side.

"You hear or read top-of-the-line people such as Franz Beckenbauer, Ottmar Hitzfeld and Karl-Heinz Rummenigge," he said.

"They are all of the same opinion that Real Madrid are not a good team and they are favourites and that we have some sort of complex," he said with a clear dose of sarcasm.

"So, yes, I think we are the ones who are outsiders," he added. "Bayern are a very good team with a fantastic coach, very good players and it's a very strong institution, big football club with big institutional power."

Mourinho also said that his club, often criticised for harassing and criticising match officials, always want to co-operate with referees and try to make their lives easier.

A frequent critic of referees, Mourinho said he had no special concerns at the appointment of the Englishman Howard Webb for Tuesday's first leg at Bayern.

"Real Madrid have good relations with all referees," he said, giving typically laconic answers. "We hope they do their job well and the Real Madrid players, as always, will try to help the referee do his work calmly, hoping that his decisions are right.

"But we know that they can make mistakes and those mistakes can decide who gets the three points," added Mourinho, who generally avoids news conferences in La Liga.

However, forced to break a media silence by Champions League rules, Mourinho was keen to remind his listeners that Real had reached the last four twice in a row under his leadership, breaking a sequence of early exits before he arrived.

Real fell at the last-16 stage for six seasons in a row before Mourinho arrived at the Bernabéu. "We have the extra motivation of playing in the semi-finals for the second successive season," he said.

"Real Madrid has not got to this stage for a long time and, in two seasons, we have got to two semi-finals with one loss in 22 games, and that is a game which has a story," he added, referring to last season's semi-final first leg defeat at home to Barcelona.

"We have nothing to lose," he said. "The only thing we can lose this year is the King's Cup, which is ours. La Liga and the Champions League are not ours, so we can only win them."

Mourinho added that he had no concerns about his team. "I have no doubts for tomorrow. I know who is playing, who is going to be on the bench and who will be in the stands. It's one of the games in which I don't have any doubt."

"I have thought so much about it and worked so hard for it that I have absolutely no doubt. It's an easy decision."