TEARS😭 as a devastated tragedy just happened to Jose Mourinho, what a wicked world we are living in
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Mourinho cried after completing historic treble with Inter
The most significant image of Jose Mourinho’s greatest triumph is not the goals of Diego Milito, the guile of Wesley Sneijder or the merciless marking of Walter Samuel.
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What endures is the scene in the car park of the Estadio Santiago Bernabeu, a short time after Mourinho’s Inter Milan have beaten Bayern Munich 2-0 on May 22, 2010, to win the Champions League and complete a historic ‘Triplete’ – a Serie A title, Italian Cup and Champions League treble.
Mourinho is about to leave the stadium in a private car when he spies Marco Materazzi waiting by the team bus. The Portuguese quickly leaves the car, approaches the defender and embraces him.
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They exchange words and when Mourinho retraces his steps, he is in tears. Both men appear to know they have reached the end of an era. Six days later, Mourinho is the new coach of Real Madrid.
‘Marco was the symbol of all our sadness,’ Mourinho told La Gazzetta dello Sport. ‘I wanted to go to Real. They had tried to get me the year before and when I was at Chelsea – you can’t say no three times to Real Madrid. I wanted to be the first to win league titles in England, Italy and Spain.’
Though there were eight more trophies during Mourinho’s subsequent stints with Madrid, Chelsea and Manchester United, the current Tottenham coach has never quite recaptured what he had with that Inter squad, who reached the peak exactly a decade ago.
They were a group of players operating in perfect harmony, at the peak of their mental and physical powers, who had a strong emotional connection to their coach and had complete faith in him. What would the often angry, surly Mourinho of the following 10 years have given to have all that again?
‘I have never felt so much trust from a manager,’ said Javier Zanetti, the Inter captain that day and one of the club’s greats. ‘I quickly understood that, if required, he would have played me in any position. This is the best feeling a player can have.
‘Before the final, Mourinho told us that we were one step away from making history. It was a powerful, emotional speech. We went out on the pitch with an incredible focus. That evening was my 700th game for Inter.
‘I had guessed he might be leaving, as had many of my team-mates. But we were afraid of talking about it. We were afraid it might damage us or stop us achieving the goal we were all fighting for.
‘I remember that after the game, Mou and I hugged each other and said the same, single word to each other: Thank you.’
Zanetti was one of the finest players of the modern era, able to fulfil a number of roles to a high standard, yet is strangely overlooked by most football fans when discussing their all-time XIs.
The same is true of many of that Inter team. Sneijder played in both a Champions League and a World Cup Final that year and was somehow only fourth in the voting for the Ballon d’Or.
Though Milito scored both goals in the win over Bayern, he could still walk unrecognised through most of the world’s major cities. Another Argentine, Samuel, is also underappreciated, a top-rank centre-back who would walk into any of today’s Premier League teams, is dismissed too often as a mere hatchet man.
Of Inter’s starting XI that day, perhaps only Samuel Eto’o has a global status to rival that of Mourinho – and that is why Mourinho and Inter worked so well. Players with characters like these respond well to Mourinho’s psychological tricks; the superstar of 2020 does not.
With a few exceptions, notably Zlatan Ibrahimovic, there is usually friction when Mourinho shares the stage with footballers whose personalities and profiles match his own. Players like Sergio Ramos, Cristiano Ronaldo and Paul Pogba will not accept the teacher/pupil relationship that Mourinho likes to develop.
At Inter, he relied on artisans like Thiago Motta, Esteban Cambiasso and Goran Pandev to keep the wheels turning. Even Eto’o was prepared to play as a full-back in the semi-final, second leg against Barcelona, where Inter held out for more than an hour with 10 men to complete a 3-2 aggregate win. By contrast, Mario Balotelli, a player with Ronaldo’s swagger but little of his ability, was rarely trusted.
‘I could give you a thousands of examples from the Triplete year, but one stands out,’ recalled Materazzi. ‘We lost 3-1 to Catania in Serie A and he slaughtered us all, from the best player to the worst.
‘[The players] look each other in the eye, suck it up and four days later we go to London and beat Chelsea. Mourinho can read your feelings, even the hidden ones, and get inside your mind.
‘He presses all the right buttons, not just of his own players. I’ve never seen anyone so scientific in provoking his opponents, so good at making them nervous.’
The frustration for both Mourinho and Inter is that they have never had it as good since. Despite being one of world football’s most prestigious names, Inter failed spectacularly to build on the ‘Triplete’, on or off the pitch.
The 2010 league title remains their last, as Juventus have long since regained their iron grip on Italian football, winning every Scudetto since 2012.
Despite that dominance, Juventus have never emulated Inter’s treble yet when Brand Finance released their 2019 report on football’s 50 most valuable brands, the Turin giants were still two places above Inter on the list.
In 13th, Inter are below Manchester City, Arsenal, Tottenham and Paris St Germain on the list, four clubs with not a single Champions League title between them.
‘If I had gone back to Milan after the Final, with the team around me and the fans singing “Jose, stay with us”, perhaps I would never have left,’ Mourinho reflected. ‘That is why I decided not to go back to Milan until I’d signed the contract with Real.
‘Perhaps now I could stay four, five, six years in the same club. I left back then to achieve my goals, not to be happy. In fact, I was happier in Milan than in Madrid.’
Inter’s latest move has been to hire Antonio Conte, the Italian coach who most resembles Mourinho and the man who started Juventus’ run of eight consecutive league titles.
Yet the sad truth of their greatest day is that Inter have spent the last 10 years trying to revive the spirit of Mourinho; similarly, Mourinho has surely had moments recalling that tearful farewell and wondering why he ever left.
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Related： Tottenham Hotspur Internazionale Mourinho
Latest comments
marsh690
2020-05-24 06:40
it was really great moment for inter and mourinho
Rishikesh86 0
2020-05-24 02:41
A VERY PROUD MOMENT FOR THE ITALIANS.
fotadlrz2
2020-05-24 00:31
Yes I never hated Mourinho, he was fantastic at the time, and now that his era has faded he should understand and accept defeat and not put blame on players and club owners. Jose at some years back you were at your peak but just accept today everything has declined. congratulations to Mourinho and the entire inter team of 2010.
Perecozy2
2020-05-23 22:52
Ever green Jose hate him criticize him say all kind of negative things about him the fact remain and will continue to remain that Jose is among the greatest managers of football history. Like zlatan said I can kill for Jose
Izarqua4
2020-05-23 22:22
many times I find his game boring but the fact is that I find football less interesting without him…am sure he offers a lot to the game more than just what we see on the pitch.
Mbongeni70
2020-05-23 21:12
UCL with Porto and treble with Inter unprecedented, truly a good 1 for the books!
Andy_Mac1
2020-05-23 20:18
Gunners4ever❤
So true🤣I still remember his cojones comments to this day, but since then Karma has kinda struck him. In the reverse fixture in the same season, we beat Watford 3-0 and Deeney had his penalty saved against a goalkeeper who never saved a penalty in his Arsenal career despite facing 11 of them (he eventually kept his 200th PL clean sheet). Then last season when we played at their home, we won 1-0 (keeping an away clean sheet in the league for the first time) and Deeney got a red card after 12 minutes. His performance against Liverpool made him win back Arsenal fans’ hearts forever!
Tbh I was shocked when Deeney said that on the panel. Those words would have been fine if they had come from a pundit but not from a fellow professional footballer. As a competitor, you must show some respect and keep your honest opinions about them to yourself until you’re no longer playing. I think Deeney was wrong in that aspect. He makes really good opinions though and I would love to see him in punditry really soon after he hangs up his boots from football. Karma is a nice thing 😂 I was actually supporting Arsenal in those Watford games before this season when D**id L**z betrayed us. I don’t support snakes 😂 Čech always seems to be at the centre of karma 😂 I can think of our UCL game against Barcelona when he made several saves to knock them out after we were robbed in 2009 😁
Gunners4ever❤ 0
2020-05-23 19:48
Andy_Mac
Arsenal fans from being Deeney’s hater are now his fans 😂😂
So true🤣I still remember his cojones comments to this day, but since then Karma has kinda struck him. In the reverse fixture in the same season, we beat Watford 3-0 and Deeney had his penalty saved against a goalkeeper who never saved a penalty in his Arsenal career despite facing 11 of them (he eventually kept his 200th PL clean sheet). Then last season when we played at their home, we won 1-0 (keeping an away clean sheet in the league for the first time) and Deeney got a red card after 12 minutes. His performance against Liverpool made him win back Arsenal fans’ hearts forever!
Andy_Mac1
2020-05-23 19:33
Gunners4ever❤
I’ve been a Watford fan since *that* happened. I thought you already knew😁
Arsenal fans from being Deeney’s hater are now his fans 😂😂
Gunners4ever❤ 1
2020-05-23 19:29
Andy_Mac
Huh? You’ve become a Watford fan now? 😂😂 I think that’s a good idea. No need to support Stan Kroenke 😏
I’ve been a Watford fan since *that* happened. I thought you already knew😁
Andy_Mac1
2020-05-23 18:59
Gunners4ever❤
According to him, he’s the humble one now. But he never stopped his bad old habits of moaning about everything and publicly slating his own players. He has unofficially invented a whole new definition for ‘humble’. So he is indeed the special one😉
Huh? You’ve become a Watford fan now? 😂😂 I think that’s a good idea. No need to support Stan Kroenke 😏
Andy_Mac1
2020-05-23 18:56
Gunners4ever❤
According to him, he’s the humble one now. But he never stopped his bad old habits of moaning about everything and publicly slating his own players. He has unofficially invented a whole new definition for ‘humble’. So he is indeed the special one😉
Well said 😂😂
Gunners4ever❤ 1
2020-05-23 18:08
Andy_Mac
José Mourinho: The Loved One 😂😂
According to him, he’s the humble one now. But he never stopped his bad old habits of moaning about everything and publicly slating his own players. He has unofficially invented a whole new definition for ‘humble’. So he is indeed the special one😉
Benit0076
2020-05-23 15:02
He started a revolution so infectious in Porto, Chelsea, Inter and Madrid that led those great football clubs to win more trophies even when he left, installing a winning mentality which is second only to Real Madrid. Its a blessing to have watch many great coaches and great players in the era of Jose. I hope the future will learn from the best and stop talking trash, disrespecting a genius of the game like the special one. Merci Jose
Muhsen_97 0
2020-05-23 14:50
Bacon-man
Mourhino: The special one Guardiola: The tactical one Klopp: the normal one Emery: 5-1
Lol
Muhsen_97 1
2020-05-23 14:50
He should of stayed there he could of probably made inter even stronger
bruynaldo200
2020-05-23 13:51
bruynaldo20
He Was A Hell Of A Manager…it’s Really Sad That He Has Passed His Prime…But He Can Still Win Something If He Had Signed For A Better Team Than….”You Know”…
Tottenham is not a really convincing team right now… I hope he turns the table
Bacon-man0
2020-05-23 13:49
bruynaldo20
He Was A Hell Of A Manager…it’s Really Sad That He Has Passed His Prime…But He Can Still Win Something If He Had Signed For A Better Team Than….”You Know”…
I think he will be successful at spurs but he needs to give them time and not leave after like 2 years.
bruynaldo201
2020-05-23 13:36
He Was A Hell Of A Manager…it’s Really Sad That He Has Passed His Prime…But He Can Still Win Something If He Had Signed For A Better Team Than….”You Know”…
jeoekmprsz1
2020-05-23 13:25
We have all forgotten his past now we make fun of him
Bacon-man3
2020-05-23 13:21
Mourinho said he would win the ucl 3 times He’s already one it twice Watch this space
Bacon-man4
2020-05-23 13:20
Mourhino: The special one Guardiola: The tactical one Klopp: the normal one Emery: 5-1
musty__aliyu4
2020-05-23 13:18
Mourinho is a great coach,but unfortunately he came in contact with lazy players
jubdlnotuz2
2020-05-23 12:40
The special one continue to win every were you go🏅
Andy_Mac1
2020-05-23 11:37
blankie
Haha stupid me I put the wrong emoji 😅🤣
If you had put the Earth emoji, then I would call him The Earthly One 😂
blankie1
2020-05-23 11:33
Andy_Mac
José Mourinho: The Loved One 😂😂
Haha stupid me I put the wrong emoji 😅🤣
Andy_Mac1
2020-05-23 11:32
blankie
Oops wrong emoji ahhh 😂 I meant 😎
José Mourinho: The Loved One 😂😂
Agubenjamin6
2020-05-23 11:20
The special one doing the special things With the special club at the special time
blankie1
2020-05-23 11:12
blankie
Jose Mourinho: The Special One ❣️
Oops wrong emoji ahhh 😂 I meant 😎
Jose Mourinho: The Special One ❣️
“Any manager will tell you that they would rather win one and lose two than to draw three, because you get more points.”
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