50 FACTS ABOUT JOSE MOURINHO.... have your say 1 - Where better place to start when discussing Mourinhos life than at the No.1. Upon arriving at Chelsea in 2004 from Porto the talented coach gave a press conference in which he said, Please dont call me arrogant, but Im European champion and I think Im a special one,” much to the joy of the waiting reporters. The self- proclaimed moniker has accompanied him ever since. 2 - Mourinho led Real Madrid to the Liga title for the first time in four seasons in 2011-12, and during the campaign they broke a number of domestic records. Their 100 points was the highest ever tally, as was the 121 goals they scored. Their positive goal difference of 89 was also a new high, along with their 16 away wins and 32 overall wins. 3 - The number of weeks Jose told the Italian press it took him to learn Italian after agreeing to take the Inter job in 2008. 4 - The 2011-12 Liga title represented a significant milestone for Mourinho, as it meant he had won the league title in Portugal, England, Italy and Spain, each of the four countries in which he had coached. 5 - In a letter he sent to each of the Chelsea squad soon after arriving at the club, he wrote an equation at the bottom with five words in it: Motivation + Ambition + Team + Spirit = SUCCESS 6 - In 2009, Mourinho received a doctorate from Lisbons Technical University for his accomplishments in professional football. He had graduated from the university more than 20 years beforehand with a degree in physical education and sport. 7 - The number of players Mourinho thought his Inter side needed to beat Milan in January 2010. Wesley Sneijder was sent off for Inter during the game, although they still went on to win the derby 2-0. Afterwards their coach said: We were perfect. We would have won this game even with seven men. Maybe with six we would have struggled, but we would have won with seven. 8 - When told by a Spanish journalist that he has been named the ninth most influential person in world by AskMen, Mourinho replied: What position is my wife in? Eighth, at least. That is crazy. I’m not even in charge of my own home … 9 - The number of years he went unbeaten at home in league matches. Between losing 3-2 to Beira-Mar as Porto coach in February 2002 and Real Madrids 1-0 loss to Sporting Gijon in April 2011, Mourinho had won 125 matches and drawn 25 in an unbelievable run of games that lasted nine years and one month. 10 - In the build-up to Real Madrids Champions League semi-final clash against Barcelona he stoked the flames between the two sides by claiming his team would practice playing with 10 men as referees always sent his players off when he faced Barcelona. I have to train with 10 men [to prepare for the Barcelona semi- final], how to play with 10 men, because I go there with Chelsea, I finish with 10, I go there with Inter, I finish with 10 and I have to train to play with 10 men because it can happen again. In the 2-0 first-leg loss at the Santiago Bernabeu, Madrid had Pepe sent off. The Bright Side of Life | Mourinho is welcomed to Madrid by Florentino Perez 11 - Mourinho won the inaugural Ballon dOr Best Coach award in 2010. 12 - He is reportedly paid €12.3m annually by current club Real Madrid. His contract is set to expire in 2016, despite rumours linking him with a move back to England. 13 - According to his mother, Maria Julia, Jose did not suddenly become a perfectionist when he started coaching, having shown signs when he was very young of his desire for things to be neat and organised. He was a perfectionist from his early days, she says. At the age of five he would go to school with all his pens, crayons and ruler perfectly ordered and cased in his satchel. 14 - The percentage of possession that Mourinhos Inter side had in the second leg of their Champions League semi-final against Barcelona at Camp Nou in 2010. Inter lost that match 1-0, but progressed to the final 3-2 winners on aggregate. 15 - Joses mother, Maria Julia, wanted him to become a businessman when it became clear he wasnt going to succeed as a professional footballer, and when he was 23 she signed him up for a business school. He quit after a day. 16 - In 2007, Mourinho was issued a police caution after allegedly refusing to allow police to quarantine his pet dog, Leya. Having rushed home from an awards ceremony following a tip-off from his wife, according to eyewitnesses the then-Chelsea coach freed the animal from the hands of the health officials and encouraged it to run off down the street. 17 - Before he became a coach, Mourinho was a PE teacher in Portugal. According to one of his former pupils he was an immediate hit with female students. Until he arrived no girls ever wanted to do PE, but suddenly nobody was asking for a doctors sick note, she recalled. 18 - According to Rui Faria, Mourinhos fitness coach at Porto, Chelsea, Inter and now Real Madrid, the 50-year-old learned a valuable coaching tip when attending a course led by Andy Roxburgh at the Scottish Football Association while he was still coach of the youth team at Vitoria Setubal. Roxburgh emphasised to Mourinho the importance of having your players face away from the sun when talking to them so they would not be blinded by the light. 19 - In 2005 he was selected as the New Statesmans Man of the Year. 20 - Mourinho was fined and given a three-match ban by the Italian Football Association in February 2010 after making a handcuffs gesture towards a camera following the dismissals of two of his Inter players in the first half of a Serie A match against Sampdoria.
Posted on: Thu, 13 Mar 2014 20:38:21 +0000
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