The Jose Mourinho documentary isn’t even out on Netflix yet and the 63-year-old is already making headlines.
It’s patently clear that while his reputation as a manager has diminished in recent years, he remains as box office as ever. There remains the glint in the eye that made him so special over two decades ago. There also remains the menace that has made him so divisive, too.
Several revelations from the documentary have already emerged, a day before the rest of the world can witness it for themselves.
He has caused a stir with his comments on Manchester United, revealing that he agreed to replace Sir Alex Ferguson in 2013. While David Moyes was anointed the ‘Chosen One’ by supporters, it’s become increasingly evident that was never really the case.
Mourinho says United wanted him and Ferguson confirms it. The reason it didn’t happen? Because, after three turbulent years in sunny Spain with Real Madrid, he wanted familiarity and comfort. Chelsea, who were moving on from Rafa Benitez, offered him that.
So Mourinho, despite having arguably the biggest job in world football on the table, decided to go back to Stamford Bridge instead.
He would, of course, later manage United. But the Portuguese coach was already waning after difficulties in west London by the time he succeeded Louis van Gaal in 2016 and never came close to restoring the Red Devils to the dizzying summits of old.
Mourinho also shows he’s not afraid to reopen old wounds.
Jose Mourinho remains as box office as ever at the age of 63
|
GETTY/NETFLIX
Sir Alex Ferguson confirmed Jose Mourinho’s claims about the Man Utd job | GETTY
He was widely criticised after an explosive row with Chelsea doctor Eva Carneiro in August 2015, during a 2-2 draw with Swansea. Having become enraged following her decision to treat an injured Eden Hazard, which resulted in the Blues being forced to see out the contest with nine men, Mourinho let rip. That fit of rage, and the consequent fall-out, would later result in a court case.
Carneiro ended up settling a constructive dismissal and sex discrimination claim with Chelsea and Mourinho out of court in 2016.
But Mourinho, all these years on, remains unapologetic, insisting her gender had no bearing on his furious reaction.
“For me, a lady doctor is the same as a man’s doctor,” he says. “So, as always, I use my vocabulary when I’m not happy.
Five things to know about Jose Mourinho | GETTY/GBNEWS
Jose Mourinho clashed with Chelsea doctor Eva Carneiro back in 2015
| GETTY
“There are words in moments where the tension is very, very high. Normally, people with football culture, with football DNA, with football background, they go over it in one second. In that case, it was different.”
Mourinho also maintains that Hazard didn’t need treatment.
“I’m not a doctor, but my eyes know when a player is injured, and they know when a player is not injured,” he adds, the glint in his eye evident.
“I knew that he was not injured, but the doctors went to the pitch, and in that moment we were left with nine players.”
Mourinho also can’t resist a dig at Pep Guardiola.
Guardiola is currently taking a sabbatical, having previously done the same upon leaving Barcelona in 2012. That time around, the Spaniard spent a year out of the game before returning to Bayern Munich. Fast-forward to now, it’s unclear when the world will see one of the game’s greatest managers on the touchline again.
But sabbaticals aren’t for Mourinho. Now 63, and back at Real Madrid for a second time, he insists his desire to win remains as strong as ever. For him, as he so pointingly puts it, it’s a sign of ‘weakness’.
“I cannot even imagine when I am going to stop my life in football,” he says when quizzed on retirement. “I say 10 more years, but maybe more than 10. It’s fun. It was, it is and will always be fun.
Jose Mourinho aims a fresh dig at Pep Guardiola in his Netflix documentary
| GETTY
“I want to win more titles. I want to win new titles. I want to repeat titles.
“I want to do it in places where I have never been. I want to do it in places where I did before.”
He adds: “Some guys, they need a sabbatical – which is something that I hate. I hate that word.
“For me, sabbatical means weakness. Don’t speak with me about sabbaticals.
“I never need a rest. I will have a rest when he [Mourinho points to the sky] decides to say: ‘Come up’.”
With Mourinho now back at the Bernabeu, the prospects of a return to England look increasingly remote.
The Premier League has moved on since Mourinho’s pomp. Managers are more guarded, press conferences more sanitised and controversy more carefully avoided.
Jose Mourinho won three Premier League titles across his two stints with Chelsea, while also proceeding to manage Manchester United and Tottenham
| GETTY
Yet Mourinho was never interested in any of that. He could start a war with a sentence, charm a room with the next and make himself the biggest story in English football without a ball even being kicked.
The charm, the controversy, the charisma. The good, the bad and the ugly.
Mourinho remains all of them. And this documentary shows just how much he’s missed.
