Top 5 matches where Jose Mourinho tactically outwitted the opposition

#2 Champions League: Manchester United 1-1 Porto (Agg 2-3)

united vs porto — Costinha’s last gasp equaliser knocked Manchester United out of the Champions League

On 9 March 2004, the world first started to take notice of Jose Mourinho as his band of merry men in Porto caused a huge shock by knocking out their much-fancied opponents Manchester United from the Champions League. Leading 2-1 from the first leg, Mourinho came to Old Trafford knowing that a tricky match awaited Porto away from home.

Things got much tougher when Paul Scholes put United ahead in the first half. With Mourinho manically pushing his men till the final minute, Porto finally cracked open the United defence with an error from their then goalkeeper Tim Howard, gifting Porto a last minute equaliser.

The unfancied Porto went on to create history that season by winning the Champions League, but it all started for Mourinho and his players on that chilly night in Manchester as the world started to take notice of this truly “special” manager.

About the author

A Bengaluru lad through and through, Ashwin Hanagudu is a huge fan of Liverpool and unsurprisingly pledges his sworn allegiance to RCB in the IPL. With over 8+ years of experience in this field, Ashwin manages multiple verticals at Sportskeeda and as of July 2024 is the most-read author in the football section.

Apart from his duties at Sportskeeda, Ashwin Hanagudu is also an active table tennis player and has played multiple state ranking and national tournaments representing Karnataka.

A huge sports fan, some of the athletes and sportspersons he admires in no particular order are Virat Kohli, Steven Gerrard, Mohamed Salah, Cristiano Ronaldo, Roger Federer, Rafa Nadal, Novak Djokovic, Neeraj Chopra and PV Sindhu

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Edited by Staff Editor