When Players Were Asked About José Mourinho..

Why is Mourinho so special? Because he manipulates, not the game, but the minds. I think I'm a special one. There's no coach in football history that has managed to divide opinions quite like Jose Mourinho. For him, I would leave that pitch in a coffin for him. That's because in the past he was a little man. Legends, former players, coaches, everyone has been forced to pick a side and defend it to the death. Mourinho has inspired more people to publicly share their thoughts on him than any other coach in the history of the game. Jose Mourinho, in the words of his contemporaries. Is your dad the special one? Yes. I will put him in the top. I always say that. He's a good coach. He did many good things. He won many trophies for the other clubs. I could say many managers, but if I really have to choose one, it's Mourinho. I think it was good for Jose because he's a good coach. I know him personally. He's talented and very honest. He knows how to manage a group and the experience was interesting for me. Mourinho or Pep? I won with both, but one stimulated me more than the other one. Jose is, for me, like I said, probably one of the best coaches ever to walk on the planet Earth. For me, he knows how to really drive you. He was a great student of the game, was Jose. Jose loved football. Jose had a great knowledge about football and he was intelligent. And he turned out to be an amazing guy, really. He was also beside a nice guy. He's a person with a strong character, but he has a very good heart. I think he's got something that most of the managers don't have. He's very close with his players. I'm here. Appreciate that. He's like a teacher. I think his background is also a teacher. He would motivate you on a high level, that you would do anything to go out. The mentality, I would literally, probably for the football club, but for him, I would give everything. I would leave that pitch in a coffin for him. In a coffin for him, it was in every player that he had felt the exact same way. With Mourinho, I could go out and kill for Mourinho. That's the motivation he gave me. So that's why, you know, every game, when we were on the pitch, we were like a soldier. What about the way that the sprinklers came on at the end? Because they left the skin, so we needed some water to clean the blood. My players left blood on the pitch. Mourinho has built deep bonds with many who worked under him, but not everyone speaks so fondly. Over the years, several players and coaches have come forward with a very different picture of life under Mourinho. I remember the semi-final of the Champions League in Bernabeu. He did an amazing press conference, but it wasn't about football. He enjoys talking about what's happening on the pitch. I remember his first press conference, I said, he's a cocky bugger. I'm a European champion, so I'm not one of the bottle. I think I'm a special one. You know, he's a specialist in failure. I'm not. I'm embarrassed for him, honestly. But honestly, I cannot force my interest in things that are not interesting for me. I love football, and I'm sorry to disappoint you. What's interesting for me is what's happening on the pitch. He's won it, he's won it all year long, he's won it all this season, and he's going to do it again in the future. I'm giving him a special Champions League gift off the pitch. He can take it home and enjoy it like everyone else. But I know him very well in the past, because in the past he was a little man in many circumstances. He's a little man in the present, and for sure he will be a little man in the future. He won the game, he lost the game, and he doesn't want to speak about the game. He wants to speak about the dad of someone. That's what he does. I just want to say, Sonny is very lucky that his father is a better person than Ole. You know, everybody knows him. He's very Mourinho. If you don't do what he said, it's his way or no way. Tough two years, but I think mentally it made me come out the other side and made me stronger. It made me want to prove to him that I can do what sometimes in the last couple of seasons he said I couldn't. Probably the saddest moment for me was when Mourinho was manager, I think I was 24. And I remember there was one session, like one morning I woke up, I had to go training. This is when he'd stop playing me. And I think one day, I think you will regret if you don't reach what you can reach. He was really special. I mean, you have that picture always from him to be very, very controversial, also sometimes a little bit provocative in a nice way. I agree, I played against them 10 times and I never lost. He sometimes came to our meeting and he said, guys, this is what I want, this is what I really think, this is what we do, but I'm going to go to the press conference and I will say this and I will say that, so don't be surprised. It's just the thing, I want them to hear that. He manipulates, not the game, but the minds. Who was it for? For the English press, because they speak too much, because Chelsea lost two matches. Sir Alex is the only one European champion in this country, nobody else. So I have to prove what? If I speak, I am in big trouble. In big trouble. Mourinho is probably the only coach that knows the press really well. And he manages to use them to his advantage. He figures out what they're going to talk about and he uses this. For him the whole thing becomes like a game, a marketing stunt. I will change the squad and I will change the journalists in the press. At this moment there is only one person, which is him. Which is to criticize the referee's success. He was pressuring Mourinho so much, so much, so much, that even people in the Barcelona environment were asking Guardiola for something more. Hey, answer him now, because this guy is getting too involved with you and Barcelona. He was confident, he was not arrogant. Because people say arrogance, I have the same thing, people say I'm arrogant. But I don't call it arrogant, I call it confident. Because when you're confident, it means that you're not powerful, but you're pretty sure for who you are. That is not arrogance, that is different. Ignorant call it arrogance, the intelligent they call it confident. But because of the way he managed to change our mindset, he really led us to believe that we were the best and that's what happened. He dragged out of me things no other coach has done before. When I was playing I was feeling like a terminator. I was feeling so confident under him. From being a cat I felt like a lion. Because he gives you life, you come to training happy. That you want to follow him, you trusted him, that's really important that the team trusts the coach. He plays with the brains of the player in a very smart way. When he wants to make you feel important, he's fantastic. He's been phenomenal for us, every game, no exception. I never had this kind of feeling with another coach. He knows how to really drive you and for me this is what I needed. We lost a game, we have a game to play. We have to go with balls, with courage, with good feelings. Let's go together boys, come on! Marinho is a coach, I've said this before, who can manage fantastically. He can keep everyone happy, even if you take him in the gutter. And if you take him in the gutter, he's merciless. Jose allowed me and the other attacking players to be a bit more free. There wasn't too much structure in it. I've always felt like I'm someone, even when I was young, who liked to drop and get on the ball and play passes. It was kind of the perfect opportunity to do that with that coach. Why was he the special one? Because he knew what he wanted. We just have to follow him. And that's what we did. Every game he knew exactly what we have to do. He created that winner mentality. Up until Jose, I've never had a manager that was so fixated on winning. The story of football is that the teams of good guys, they never win. Have a yellow card, Zinchenko has a yellow card, Sterling has a yellow card. So be a ****! So in the beginning I was angry all the time. We've not played well today, we've won. But because we've won and he's a manager, he's just a winner.