Jose Mourinho admits 'deep feelings' for all his club except one

Mourinho has established himself as one of the managerial greats over the years, having won trophies with teams in five different countries.

The Portuguese started out as an assistant coach to the late Bobby Robson at Sporting CP more than 30 years ago, initially hired as a translator. He followed the Englishman to Porto and then Barcelona, remaining at Camp Nou when Louis van Gaal was appointed head coach. Mourinho branched out on his own in 2000 with a brief stint at Benfica, before heading to Uniao de Leiria and then getting his big break upon returning to Porto in 2002.

By the end of his first season at Porto, Mourinho had delivered the UEFA Cup and followed that up a year later with the Champions League – his team remain the last Portuguese side to make the final. Mourinho anointed himself a ‘Special One’ when Chelsea hired him in 2004 and a legend was born.

Over the years, Mourinho won Premier League, Serie A and La Liga titles with Chelsea, Inter and Real Madrid, as well as domestic cups in all three countries. Even his time with Manchester United delivered a League Cup and the Europa League, while Roma won last season’s inaugural Europa Conference League and are into this season’s Europa League final. The club where Mourinho doesn’t have particularly fond memories is Tottenham.

He was sacked by United in December 2018 and was chosen as Mauricio Pochettino’s successor in north London 11 months later. But Mourinho ended up having to guide Spurs through Covid-19 and having to try and rebuild a team on the fly. Eventually, he was sacked after 17 months, just under a week before the 2021 Carabao Cup final, and left a club trophy-less for the first time since 2002. The fact that he had taken Spurs into a final and was then let go so close to the game appears to have been a lasting and particularly sore spot for Mourinho.

I hope the Tottenham fans don’t get me wrong, but the only club in my career where I don’t have still a deep feeling for is Tottenham,” he said. “Probably because the stadium was empty, Covid time. Probably because Mr Levy didn’t let me win a final and win a trophy. Mourinho has been speculatively linked with Paris Saint-Germain in recent weeks, owing to his resurgent success with Roma, a club he says he will ‘forever be tied to.