The enigma that is José MourinhoYou either love him passionately or you hate him fervently. He has within him the power to start fist-fights among monks and make brothers reach for pickaxes to tear each other apart. And José Mário dos Santos Mourinho Félix wouldn’t have it any other way.The man’s success is unquestioned. The numbers are just plain scary – he has won seven domestic league titles and nine domestic cup crowns in four different countries, a UEFA Cup and two Champions Leagues crowns, all in a space of nine years from 2002-03 to 2011-12. Those medals and trophies speak for themselves. Or at least they ought to.As non-debatable as his success is, the shenanigans he gets up to along the way leave plenty of room for “healthy discussion”. Variously described as awesome, funny, arrogant, iconic or idiotic, the great Portuguese has had his fair share of controversial moments.Here’s a look at nine of the best (or worst – your point of view, really) of those:
#1 Old Trafford: Where it all started
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Mourinho had never been a shy human being - he did after all announce that he would win the Portuguese Primeira Liga in his first season in charge of FC Porto, and then duly went ahead and won it. The man did wonders at Porto, leading them to total domestic domination and a completely unexpected European triumph.
It was en-route this fairytale European jaunt that Mourinho well and truly announced himself onto the global footballing stage. His opponents in the round of 16 were Manchester United, and going into the final moments of the second leg the Mancunians had needed to just hold on to the one goal lead that Paul Scholes had given them. However, Porto refused to be intimidated and snatched a dramatic injury time equaliser through Costinha.
On-field fireworks apart, it was the celebration of the young Mourinho that caught the eye, as he sprinted at full pelt down the Old Trafford touchline, trenchcoat flapping behind him like a cape – in front of a visibly flustered Alex Ferguson – and launched himself into the huddle of celebrating players.
Many in the British Press and public celebrated this rare naked exhibition of passion and audaciousness from a manager, while many others promptly denounced the celebration as flippantly attention seeking, and the man himself as an arrogan glory hunter.
Neither side of the debate could have guessed what was in store for them over the course of the next 10 years.
#2 \"Special One\"
When José Mourinho first walked into a press conference room as Chelsea manager to explain why the London outfit was such a perfect fit for him, no one in the press box would have predicted just how much of a gold-mine of instant headlines and quotable quotes the man was going to be.
According to him, Chelsea had great players but apart from that they had another key advantage. In the inimitable words of the great man himself – “… I’m sorry I am a bit arrogant, we have a top manager”, and then followed that up with the now legendary “…again, please don’t call me arrogant, because what I am saying is true, I’m European Champion so I’m not one of the bottle. I’m a *slight pause* I think I am a special one.”
The British sports media had their new darling – they had been used to non-committal regulation responses from managers (and the occasional bollocking/banning from Alex Ferguson), but the primal arrogance of the fiery Portuguese took their breaths away. That moniker, ‘the Special One’, would stick and he would prove how just how special he was by leading Chelsea to their first league title in 50 years that inaugural season itself, and then winning it again, convincingly, the following year.
Today, 10 years later and in his second stint at the Bridge, he is still walking the talk. “Special One”, indeed.
#3 Shut up, ye Noisy Scousers
It appeared for all the world that Mourinho, chasing his first English trophy, had run into a brick wall in the form of an inspired Liverpool in the Carling Cup final – after John Arne Riise’s early goal, the Blues had been struggling in vain to find a way back. The ever willing Liverpudian support duly started targeting the man who crouched in his dugout – his early season arrogance having painted a bull’s eye target, large enough to be seen from Mars, on his back.
The game appeared Liverpool’s till a Chelsea free-kick was deflected into the Merseysider’s net via the head of Steven Gerrard. This prompted Mourinho to promptly walk along the touchline with his finger on his lips in an apparent gesture to the Scousers to shut the hell up. He would claim that the shush-ing gesture was meant for the media rather than the crowd, but not many are convinced on the credibility of the statement.
Interesting trivia - listen closely to the commentator in the video clip , he insinuates that Gerrard may well be on the way out of Liverpool – to join Chelsea. This had been a rumour that flew around all summer that year (and the following year). If Mourinho had actually pulled that transfer off, imagine how much more loaded that already controversial shush-ing gesture would have become!
#4 The Wenger Love Affair
Mourinho’s natural arrogance and claims of superiority were naturally bound to rub off negatively on opposing managers and Alex Ferguson, Rafael Benitez and Josép Guardiola amongst many others have had their fair share of run-ins with the charismatic Portuguese. All of those rivalries though pale in the face of the clash of heavy weights that is José Mourinho vs. Arsene Wenger.
Last Sunday’s kerfuffle is merely the tip of the iceberg, a physical manifestation of intense frustration on the part of Wenger and an arrogant declaration of go-back-to-where-you-came-from by Mourinho. This rivalry started off a high when a frustraed Mourinho lashed out at Wenger for comments on his 2004-05 title winning Chelsea side - "He is someone who likes to watch other people. There are some guys who have this big telescope to see what happens in other families. He must be one of them." - in essence suggesting that the great Frenchman was a perverse voyeur. Wenger, not one to shy away from a fight responded by saying: "When you give success to stupid people, it makes them more stupid sometimes and not more intelligent."
The powder keg was well and truly lit, and enmity and bitterness between the two have festered for long. Mourinho’s highly controversial tapping-up of Ashley Cole while the left-back was still a Gunner (without Arsenal’s consent), did not help matters and although the FA found the Chelsea boss guilty of misconduct and fined him 75,000 pounds, Cole did join Chelsea soon enough.
Last Sunday showed that this “love” affair will not be nearing its end anytime soon.
#5 The Enemy of Football
Ever since Mourinho left Barcelona after serving as their assistant manager under Bobby Robson, he has had a intensely heated relationship with the Catalan giants. Things kicked off well and truly after the clash between his Chelsea and Frank Rijkaard’s Barca in the 2005 Champions League pre-quarters. Chelsea would lose the first leg 2-1 but the match would be overshadowed by Mourinho’s allegations against the Swedish referee Anders Frisk, who (he says) connived with Rijkaard to ensure an advantage for Barca - "When I saw Rijkaard entering the referee's dressing room I couldn't believe it. When Drogba was sent off I didn't get surprised."
It was a truly damaging accusation - the sheer quantum of hate mail and death threats from skinheads received by Frisk forced the Swede to quit his job. Volker Rioth, the head of Uefa’s referee committee, branded Mourinho “an enemy of football” and UEFA handed him a two match touchline ban from European competition. Chelsea, of course, won the return leg (refereed this time by the intimidating Pierluigi Collina) and advanced to the quarters where they would take on Bayern.
#6 Secret Agent Jos
The ban meant that Chelsea would have to face Bayern without their guiding force dispelling commands from the touchline.Well it should have meant that, anyway. This isn’t some ordinary football manager you are talking about here after all – this is José Mourinho! And if the stories that circulate on the tie at Stamford Bridge are in any way true – it proves the man would go to any lenghts to win a football match – even if it meant underatking activites that would make James Bond go green with envy.
On the benches, Chelsea’s fitness coach Rui Faria was seen wearing an ill-fitting woolen hat and frequently scratching his ear – raising suspicions that his manager was feeding him instructions through a hidden earpiece. The second half saw wilder allegations thrown at the Blues’ boss, when the goalkeeping coach, Silvinho Louro, repeatedly walked in and out of the dressing room carrying pieces of paper – his arrival from within, coinciding with a number of substitutions.
The wildest though, and by far the greatest allegation that has dogged Mourinho about this game is the one that he apparently got in early into the dressing room, delivered the pre-match and half-time team talks, devised strategies and substitutions and then left the dressing room 10 minutes before the match ended inside a laundry basket… A LAUNDRY BASKET… to the Bridge’s leisure club where It was claimed he spent the entire evening.
Chelsea, meanwhile, won the match 4-2.
#7 \"My hands are tied\"
After his acrimonious exit from Chelsea, Mourinho arrived in Italy and settled in with the ease of a fish slipping back into water. He had a wonderful time of it in Milan, the zenith being Internazionale attaining that remarkable treble in 2010. Quite naturally he had started off on the right foot too – his first press conference was in Italian, with the Portuguese claiming that he had learnt the language in a little under three weeks – “because I’m very intelligent”. He floored the packed conference room with the delivery of a classic Milanese putdown after an awkward question was put to him – “Non sono un p***a" – "I'm not a d***head"
Controversy as usual followed him throughout his stay in Italy and at one point he was fined three times in as many months by the Italian Football Federation after he made a series of allegations against undue influences being exerted by anti-Inter forces on football authorities including referees.
The most eye-catching incident of them all was the handcuffs gesture he made following a bad tempered draw at Sampdoria which had seen Walter Samuel and Ivan Cordoba being sent off. The Inter manager had no doubts that there were external forces at play here and held up his hands in the handcuff gesture – conveying without speaking that his hands were tied by more powerful forces. He received a three match ban for his troubles.
#8 The Tito (P*to) eye poke
After winning the treble with Inter, Mourinho migratory route took him to Real Madrid. The bad blood festering between him and Barcelona after ‘feisty’ European encounters with Chelsea and Inter was now going to be taken to a whole new level. The ‘El Classico’ soon set the stage for more Mourinho shenanigans – this time in the 2011 Super Cup final.
When Real’s Marcelo went diving in on Barca’s Francesc Fabregas with a heinous tackle, everyone knew that one of those traditional, all-encompassing ‘El Classico’ brawls was going to start up. Sure enough it did, all the players on the pitch got involved, the benches cleared and chaos reigned.
What was thoroughly unexpected though was the involvement of Mourinho in the physical altercation, walking up to the Catalan’s assistant coach Tito Vilanova and proceeding to promptly poke him in the eye, before retreating – all the while taunting his victim with the smug air of a high school bully.
In the press conference that followed, he went on to call Vilanova, P*ito (Spanish slang for penis) and stating that he had no idea who this “p*to” was. This sequence of events – the embarrassing poke, the insulting press conference and the general bully-ish air about him set about giving him an air of villainy in Spain.
#9 War with a Saint
This villainy was compounded by his actions in the final season at Madrid, where he started off by first dropping “undroppable” Iker Casillas and then keeping him on the bench for the remainder of the league season. He picked up disputes with other senior players including Sergio Ramos and soon cut an isolated figure on the bench. When previously staunch supporter and compatriot, Pepe came out with anti – Mourinho statements everyone knew the writing was on the wall.
Mourinho left behind a legacy of disharmony and a deep divide amongst players and fans, all of which started when he alienated Sant Iker (Saint Iker- as local hero Iker Casillas is popularly known).
P.S. It must be said here that Casillas’ performances over the past year have shown why Mourinho dropped him - but the affair could have been handled better, and he should not have lost control of the dressing room. Once that happened, there was only going to be one winner.
#10 Unrelated Bonus video Mourinhos magic
With all this talk of arrogance and audacity and “I am special” press conferences, one tends to forget that José Mourinho is a wonderful manager who has it in him to get players to fervently look up to him. He is the kind of guy who you would want to jump off a cliff for - If Zlatan Ibrahimovic says he’d die for him, you know we are talking about someone very special.
The embedded video shows’ the effect the great man can have on his players – Marco Materazzi is not one on of those who tear up easily, but he simply can’t bear the sight of Mourinho leaving Inter after that historic treble season. It’s a truly moving moment and a rare insight into the true magic of José Mourinho.
