José Mourinho
José Mário dos Santos Félix Mourinho,
GOIH (
Portuguese pronunciation: [ʒuˈzɛ moˈɾiɲu]; born 26 January 1963 in
Setúbal,
Portugal), is a Portuguese
football manager. He is the current manager of
Italian Serie A team
Internazionale, to whom he is contracted for three seasons. He has the nickname "The Special One", a self-proclaimed title which was later taken up by the British media.
[2]
The son of Portuguese goalkeeper
José Félix Mourinho, Mourinho started out as a player but he was dissatisfied with his lack of skill and switched to management. After spells working as an assistant manager and a youth team coach in the early 1990s, he became an interpreter for
Sir Bobby Robson. There, Mourinho learnt much from the veteran coach and worked with him at
Sporting Lisbon,
Porto in Portugal, before following him to Spanish club
Barcelona.
He began focusing on coaching and impressed with brief but successful managerial periods at
Benfica and
União de Leiria. He returned to Porto in 2002, this time as head coach, and soon became a force to be reckoned with, winning the
Portuguese Liga,
Cup of Portugal and
UEFA Cup in 2003. Greater success followed in 2004 as Mourinho guided the team to the top of the league for a second time and won the highest honour in European club football, the
UEFA Champions League.
Mourinho moved to
Chelsea the following year and won two consecutive
Premier League titles in 2005 and 2006, among other domestic honours. He often courted controversy for his outspokenness, but his victories at Chelsea and Porto established him as one of the world's top football managers, well regarded by both his peers and the press. Additionally, he was named the world's best football manager by the
International Federation of Football History and Statistics (IFFHS) for both the 2004–05 and 2005–06 seasons.
After a fall-out with the Chelsea hierarchy, he moved to Italy's
Serie A, signing a three-year contract with
Internazionale in mid-2008. Within three months, he had won his first Italian honour, the
Supercoppa Italiana, and completed his first season in Italy by winning the
Serie A league title. He then followed that up the following year by winning the first "treble" in Italian history, the Serie A league title, Coppa Italia and the UEFA Champions League, thus becoming the third manager in
football history to win two
UEFA Champions League with two different teams, after
Ernst Happel and
Ottmar Hitzfeld.
Early life and career
Formative years and education
José Mário dos Santos Félix Mourinho was born in 1963 to a large middle-class family in
Setúbal, Portugal, the son of
Félix Mourinho and Maria Júlia Mourinho. His father played football professionally for
Belenenses and
Vitória de Setúbal, earning one cap for
Portugal in the course of his career. His mother was a primary school teacher from an affluent background;
[3] her uncle funded the construction of the Vitória de Setúbal football stadium. However,
the fall of
António de Oliveira Salazar's
Estado Novo regime in April 1974 led to the family losing all but a property in nearby
Palmela.
[4]
Mourinho was a popular and competitive child and his mother encouraged him to be successful in his endeavors.
[4] Football was a major part of his life and his father recalled being very impressed with his knowledge of the game. Footballing commitments in
Porto and
Lisbon meant that Félix was often separated from his son. Still, the young Mourinho managed to spend time with him and as a teenager he would travel by any means necessary to attend weekend matches. By this time, his father had changed from player to
coach and in turn the José Mourinho became a student of the game, observing training sessions and scouting opposing teams.
[5]
Mourinho wanted to follow in the footsteps of his father by becoming a footballer and he joined the Belenenses youth team. Graduating to the senior level, he played at
Rio Ave (where his father was coach), Belenenses and Sesimbra, but it became evident that he would not excel as a professional due to a lack of the requisite pace and power.
[6][7] Acceding to his shortcomings, he chose to pursue the dream of becoming a professional football coach instead.
[3] His mother had different ideas altogether and enrolled him in a business school. Mourinho attended the school but dropped out on his first day, deciding he would rather focus on sport, and chose to attend the Instituto Superior de Educação Física (ISEF),
Technical University of Lisbon, to study
sports science.
[4] He taught
physical education at various schools and after five years, he had earned his diploma, receiving consistently good marks throughout the course.
[5] After attending coaching courses held by the English and Scottish Football Associations, former
Scotland manager
Andy Roxburgh took note of the young Portuguese's drive and attention to detail.
[8] Mourinho sought to redefine the role of coach in football by mixing coaching theory with motivational and psychological techniques.
[3]
Entering management
After leaving his job as a school coach, Mourinho looked for paths into professional management in his hometown and became youth team coach at Vitória de Setúbal in the early 1990s. Working his way up the ladder, he accepted the position of assistant manager at
Estrela da Amadora.
[8] Mourinho yearned for greater challenges and in 1992 an opportunity arose to work as a translator for a top foreign coach.
Bobby Robson had been appointed as the new manager of Lisbon side
Sporting Clube de Portugal and the Englishman required a local coach with a good command of English to work as his
interpreter.
[6]
Initially, the move was a step away from management but as an interpreter Mourinho earned Robson's respect and friendship. He welcomed Mourinho's translations and the two became close through discussing tactics and coaching.
[6] Robson was sacked by Sporting but Portuguese rivals
FC Porto appointed him as their head coach and Mourinho continued to coach and interpret for players at the new post.
[8] After two years at Porto the duo moved again, switching to
FC Barcelona in 1996, and Mourinho continued to show his linguistic dexterity and drive, learning
Catalan for the new challenge.
[9] Mourinho and his family moved to
Barcelona and he gradually became a prominent figure of Barcelona's staff by translating at press conferences, planning practice sessions and helping players through tactical advice and analyses of the opposition. Robson and Mourinho's styles complemented each other: the Englishman favoured an attacking style, while Mourinho covered defensive options, and the Portuguese's love of planning and training combined with Robson's direct man-management. The partnership was fruitful and Barcelona finished the season with the
European Cup Winners' Cup. Robson moved club the following season but this time Mourinho did not follow as Barcelona were keen to retain him as assistant manager.
[8] Despite the move, the two remained good friends and Mourinho later reflected on the effect Robson had had upon him:
One of the most important things I learnt from Bobby Robson is that when you win, you shouldn’t assume you are the team, and when you lose, you shouldn’t think you are rubbish.[8]
He began working with Robson's successor,
Louis van Gaal, and he learnt much from the
Dutchman's conscientious style. Both assistant and head coach combined their studious approach to the game and Barcelona won
La Liga twice in van Gaal's first two years as coach.
[8] Van Gaal saw that his number two had the promise to be more than a skilled assistant. He let Mourinho develop his own independent coaching style and entrusted him with the coaching duties of
FC Barcelona B.
[9] Van Gaal also let Mourinho take charge of the first team (acting as Mourinho's assistant himself) for certain trophies, like the
Copa Catalunya.
[8]
Coaching career
Benfica and Leiria
The chance to become a top-tier manager arrived in September 2000 when Mourinho moved up from his role as
assistant coach at
Lisbon side
Benfica to replace head coach
Jupp Heynckes after the fourth week of the
Portuguese Liga.
[9] The Benfica hierarchy wanted to appoint
Jesualdo Ferreira as the new assistant coach but Mourinho refused and picked
Carlos Mozer, a retired Benfica defender, as his right-hand man instead.
[10] Mourinho was highly critical of Ferreira, whom he had first encountered as his teacher at ISEF, and later lambasted the veteran coach by stating: "This could be the story of a donkey who worked for 30 years but never became a horse."
[11] Only weeks after being given the job at Benfica, Mourinho's mentor,
Bobby Robson, offered him the assistant manager's role at
Newcastle United. Such was Robson's desperation for Mourinho to join him he offered to step down after two years in charge and hand over the reins to Mourinho. Mourinho turned the offer down and said he knew Robson would never step down at the club he loved.
[12]
Mourinho and Mozer proved a popular combination, enjoying a 3–0 win against fierce rivals Sporting in December.
[13][14] However, their reign appeared to be at risk after Benfica's election turned against club president João Vale e Azevedo, and the newly-elected
Manuel Vilarinho said that he would instate ex-Benfica player
Toni as his new coach.
[9] Although Vilarinho had no intention of firing him immediately, Mourinho used the victory over Sporting to test the president's loyalty and he asked for a contract extension.
[13] Vilarinho refused the demand and Mourinho resigned from his position immediately. He left the club on 5 December 2000 after just nine league games in charge.
[15] Upon later reflection, Vilarinho rued his poor judgement and expressed his frustration at losing Mourinho:
[Put me] back then [and] I would do exactly the opposite: I would extend his contract. Only later I realised that one's personality and pride cannot be put before the interest of the institution we serve.[13]
Mourinho quickly found a new managerial post in January 2001 with
União de Leiria, whom he took to their
highest-ever league finish of fifth place.
[16] Mourinho's successes at Leiria did not go unrecognised and he caught the attention of larger Portuguese clubs.
[9]
Porto
He was then hand-picked in January 2002 by
FC Porto to replace
Octávio Machado. Mourinho guided the team to third place that year after a strong 15-game run (W–D–L: 11–2–2) and gave the promise of "making Porto champions next year."
He quickly identified several key players whom he saw as the backbone of what he believed would be a perfect Porto team —
Vítor Baía,
Ricardo Carvalho,
Costinha,
Deco,
Dmitri Alenichev, and
Hélder Postiga. He recalled captain
Jorge Costa after a six-month loan to
Charlton Athletic. The signings from other clubs included
Nuno Valente and
Derlei from
União de Leiria,
Paulo Ferreira from
Vitória de Setúbal,
Pedro Emanuel from
Boavista, and
Edgaras Jankauskas, and
Maniche, who both had been out of contract at
Benfica.
During the pre-season, Mourinho put on the club website detailed reports on the team training. The reports were filled with formal vocabulary, as, for instance, he referred to a 20 km jog as an extended
aerobic exercise. While they attracted some scorn for the pretentiousness, others praised the innovation and the application of a more scientific approach to the training methods practised in Portugal. One of the key aspects in Mourinho-era Porto was his quick wit and the pressuring play, which started at the offensive line, dubbed
pressão alta ("high pressure"). The physical and combative abilities of the teams' defenders and midfielders allowed Porto to apply pressure from the offensive lines and forced opponents either to concede the ball or try longer, uncertain passes.
In 2003, Mourinho won his first
Portuguese Liga with a 27–5–2 record, 11 points clear of Benfica, the team he quit two years earlier. The total of 86 points out of the possible maximum of 102 was a Portuguese record since the rule of three points per win was introduced. Mourinho also won the
Portuguese Cup (against former club Leiria) and the
UEFA Cup final against
Celtic, both in May 2003.
The following season witnessed further successes: he led Porto to victory in the one-match
Portuguese SuperCup, beating Leiria 1–0. However they lost the UEFA Super Cup 1–0 to
Milan,
Andriy Shevchenko scoring the solitary goal. The team were dominant in the Portuguese Liga and they finished the season with a perfect home record, an eight-point advantage, and an unbeaten run that only ended against
Gil Vicente; they secured the title five weeks before the end of the season. Porto lost the Portuguese Cup final to Benfica in May 2004, but two weeks later Mourinho won a greater prize: the
UEFA Champions League, with a
3–0 win over
AS Monaco in Germany. The club had eliminated
Manchester United,
Olympique Lyonnais and
Deportivo La Coruña and their sole defeat of the competition came against
Real Madrid in the group round.
Mourinho's win over Manchester United foreshadowed a move to the English league, where he and manager Alex Ferguson would compete in the Premier League. Porto were on the verge of an away goals defeat when Costinha scored an injury time goal to win the tie and Mourinho celebrated the goal flamboyantly. As a response to his European and domestic success, Mourinho was linked with several top European clubs, including
Liverpool, Real Madrid and
Chelsea. Mourinho publicly stated his preference for the Liverpool job over the Chelsea one:
Liverpool are a team that interests everyone and Chelsea does not interest me so much because it is a new project with lots of money invested in it. I think it is a project which, if the club fail to win everything, then [Roman] Abramovich could retire and take the money out of the club. It's an uncertain project. It is interesting for a coach to have the money to hire quality players but you never know if a project like this will bring success.[17]
Liverpool offered their managerial position to Spanish coach
Rafael Benítez and Mourinho instead accepted a large offer from Roman Abramovich and pledged his immediate future to Chelsea.
[17]
Chelsea
Mourinho moved to
Chelsea in June 2004, becoming one of the highest paid managers in football with a salary of
£4.2 million a year, subsequently raised in 2005 to £5.2 million.
[18] In a press conference upon joining the English side, Mourinho said, "Please don't call me arrogant, but I'm European champion and I think I'm a special one," which resulted in the media dubbing him "The Special One".
[19]
Mourinho recruited his backroom staff from Porto, consisting of assistant manager
Baltemar Brito, fitness coach Rui Faria, chief scout André Villas Boas and goalkeeping coach
Silvino Louro. He retained the services of
Steve Clarke, a long-serving former player at Chelsea, who had also performed an assistant managerial-type role under previous managers at the club. In terms of spending, Mourinho carried on where his predecessor
Claudio Ranieri left off, as, bankrolled by Roman Abramovich, he spent in excess of £70 m in transfer fees on players such as
Tiago (£10 million) from
Benfica,
Michael Essien (£24.4 million) from
Olympique Lyon,
Didier Drogba (£24 million) from
Olympique de Marseille,
Mateja Kezman (£5.4 million) from
PSV and Porto pair
Ricardo Carvalho (£19.8 million) and
Paulo Ferreira (£13.3 million).
Under Mourinho, Chelsea built on the potential developed in the previous season. By early December, they were at the top of the
Premier League table and had reached the knock-out stages of the
Champions League. He scooped his first trophy by winning the
League Cup against
Liverpool 3–2 (
AET) in Cardiff. Towards the end of the match, Mourinho was escorted from the touchline after putting his finger to his mouth in the direction of Liverpool fans, as a response to taunts directed towards him whilst Liverpool were leading, before the equalising goal.
The club added more trophies as they secured their first top-flight domestic title in 50 years, setting a string of English football records in the process. However, he failed to achieve back-to-back Champions League successes when Chelsea were knocked out of the competition by a controversial goal in the semi-finals by eventual winners Liverpool.
[20]
Chelsea started the next season well. They defeated Arsenal 2–1 to win the FA Community Shield, and topped the Premier League from the first weekend of the
2005–06 season. Chelsea beat rivals Manchester United 3–0 to win their second consecutive Premiership title and Mourinho's fourth domestic title in a row. After the presentation of his championship medal, Mourinho threw his medal and blazer into the crowd. He was awarded a second medal within minutes which he also threw into the crowd.
The signing of Ukrainian striker
Andriy Shevchenko in the summer of 2006 for a club record fee would also prove to be a point of contention between Mourinho and Abramovich. Shevchenko, at the time of his signing, was one of the most highly regarded strikers in Europe during his time with Milan, where he won the Champions League, Scudetto and Ballon d'Or awards in his seven years at Milan. Chelsea had attempted to sign Shevchenko in the preceding two years but Milan rebuffed Abramovich's interest in him. Shevchenko's first season at Chelsea was viewed as a major disappointment by the Chelsea fans as he only scored four league goals and fourteen in all competitions. Shevchenko's strike partner, Didier Drogba had the highest scoring season of his career that year and this led Shevchenko to be dropped from the starting line-up towards the end of the season by Mourinho. Notably, in the Champions League match at Anfield, Shevchenko was not even included on the bench. Abramovich's insistence on Mourinho playing the Ukrainian was widely viewed as a further source of friction between the two men. Shevchenko's signing was not the only one for Chelsea however, as German captain
Michael Ballack was also signed to strengthen the midfield. The Icelandic striker
Eiður Guðjohnsen, an important player for Chelsea under Ranieri and Mourinho, departed the club for FC Barcelona.
The
2006–07 season saw growing media speculation that Mourinho would leave the club at the season's conclusion, due to alleged poor relations with owner Roman Abramovich and a power struggle with sporting director
Frank Arnesen and Abramovich advisor
Piet de Visser. Mourinho later cleared doubts regarding his future at
Stamford Bridge, stating that there would only be two ways for him to leave Chelsea: if Chelsea were not to offer him a new contract in June 2010, and if Chelsea were to sack him.
[21] He then launched an ambitious campaign for all four trophies available with the aim of becoming the first club in English football to complete "the quadruple".
Despite the unrest, Chelsea, under Mourinho won the
League Cup again by defeating
Arsenal in the
final at the
Millennium Stadium. However the possibility of the quadruple was brought to an end on 1 May 2007 when Liverpool eliminated Chelsea from the UEFA Champions League on penalties at Anfield, following a 1–1 aggregate draw. Days later Chelsea failed to win the Premier League title by drawing 1–1 with Arsenal at the Emirates Stadium on 6 May 2007. This meant that the title went to Manchester United. This was Mourinho's first season without a league title win in five years. Mourinho led Chelsea to a 1–0 victory against Manchester United in the
2007 FA Cup Final, winning in the first final to be played at the new
Wembley Stadium. This was his first FA Cup win which meant that he had won every domestic trophy available to a Premier League manager. However, there was to be further friction between himself and Abramovich when
Avram Grant was appointed as Director of Football, despite objections from Mourinho. Grant's position was further enhanced by being given a seat on the board. In spite of these tensions, the 2007–08 transfer season would see the departure of Dutch winger Arjen Robben to Real Madrid and French midfielder
Florent Malouda moved to Chelsea. Shevchenko was linked with a return to AC Milan but he remained at Chelsea for another year.
In the first match of the 2007–08 season, Chelsea beat
Birmingham City 3–2 to set a new record of 64 consecutive home league matches without defeat, surpassing the record set by Liverpool between 1978 and 1981.
[22] Despite this feat, Chelsea's start to the
2007–08 season was not as successful as previous starts. The team lost at
Aston Villa and followed this with a goalless draw at home to
Blackburn Rovers. Their opening game in the
UEFA Champions League saw them only manage a 1–1 home draw against the Norwegian team
Rosenborg in front of an almost half-empty stadium. Andriy Shevchenko scored Chelsea's only goal in that match.
Mourinho unexpectedly left Chelsea on 20 September 2007 "by mutual consent," although there had been a series of disagreements with chairman Roman Abramovich. The Chelsea board held an emergency meeting and decided it was time to part with their manager. Mourinho left as the most successful manager in Chelsea's history, having won six trophies for the club in three years. He was also undefeated in all home league games.
Avram Grant succeeded José Mourinho as Chelsea manager but failed to win any trophies in his year in charge, although he reached the final of the Champions League and League Cup. Grant's Chelsea also finished second in the Premier League.
Inter
On 2 June 2008, Mourinho was appointed the successor of
Roberto Mancini at
Internazionale on a three-year contract, and brought along with him much of his backroom staff who had served him at both Chelsea and Porto.
[23][24] He chose
Giuseppe Baresi, a former Inter player and ex-head coach of their youth academy, as his assistant.
[25] He spoke solely in Italian in his first press conference as Inter boss, claiming to have learnt it "in three weeks".
[26] Mourinho stated that he only intended to make a few major signings in the summer.
[27] By the end of the transfer window, he had brought three new players to the side: Brazilian winger
Mancini (
€13 million),
[28][29] Ghanaian midfielder
Sulley Muntari for reported €14 million,
[30] and Portuguese winger
Ricardo Quaresma for a cash/player exchange fee of €18.6 million plus young Portuguese midfielder
Pelé.
[31][32]
In his first season as Inter head coach, Mourinho won the
Italian Supercup, beating
Roma on penalties,
[33] and finished top of Serie A. However, Inter were eliminated 2–0 on aggregate by Manchester United in the first knock-out round of the UEFA Champions League, and he also failed to win the
Coppa Italia, being defeated 3–1 on aggregate by
Sampdoria in the semi-finals.
[34] As
UEFA was beginning to push the larger clubs in top leagues to play more homegrown players, Mourinho regularly played 18-year-old Italian forward
Mario Balotelli and promoted academy defender
Davide Santon to the first team permanently — installing an Italian contingent into a team previously composed of mostly foreign players. Both teenagers played a part in the Scudetto-winning season and played enough games to earn their first senior trophy.
Despite his domestic successes in winning the Scudetto by a ten point margin, Jose Mourinho's first season in Italy was viewed as disappointing by some Inter fans as they failed to improve on the performances of his predecessor Roberto Mancini in the Champions League. Inter put in a series of lacklustre group stage performances that included a shock 1–0 home loss to
Panathinaikos and an away draw with Cypriot minnows
Anorthosis Famagusta. However, they qualified for the knockout stages of the Champions League but failed to make it to the quarter finals after being defeated by Manchester United.
Mourinho also caused immediate ripples in Italian football through his controversial relationships with the Italian press and media, and feuds with major Serie A coaches such as
Carlo Ancelotti then of Milan,
Luciano Spalletti of Roma and
Claudio Ranieri of
Juventus. At a press conference in March 2009, he insulted the first two rivals by claiming they would end the season with no honours—and accused the Italian sport journalists of "intellectual prostitution" on their behalf.
[35] This rant promptly became very popular in Italy, especially regarding the "zero titles" quote used by Mourinho, and incorrectly pronounced by him as
zeru tituli (in correct Italian it would have been
zero titoli), which was later extensively referred to by football journalists in Italy. It also became the title's catchphrase used by fans to celebrate Inter's 17th
scudetto later that season.
[36][37] The catchphrase was even used by
Nike to present the celebration shirts for Inter's Serie A title.
[38] After the
Coppa Italia final in May, fans of Roma's cross-town rivals
Lazio, the new Coppa Italia winners, wore shirts with
Io campione, tu zero titoli ("I'm a champion, you have no honours") on it,
[39] quoting Mourinho's "zeru tituli" statement.
On 16 May 2009, Inter mathematically won the Serie A title, after runners-up
Milan lost to
Udinese. This loss left the
Nerazzurri seven points above their crosstown rivals with only two games remaining. They would eventually finish ten points clear of Milan.
[40]
On 28 July 2009, Mourinho was reported to have shown interest in taking over at
Manchester United when
Alex Ferguson retired. He was quoted as saying, "I would consider going to Manchester United but United have to consider if they want me to succeed Sir Alex Ferguson. If they do, then of course."
[41]
Under Mourinho, Inter have remained active in the transfer market.
Adriano left Inter in April 2009, and the exit of the Brazilian striker was followed by the Argentine duo
Julio Cruz and
Hernán Crespo. Legendary Portuguese attacking midfielder and veteran
Luís Figo retired. Figo was on the verge of leaving Inter under Mancini due to a lack of playing time but in his final season, Mourinho used him frequently. Mourinho signed Argentine striker
Diego Milito, who fell just one goal short of winning the top scorer award with
Genoa, and
Thiago Motta to bolster the midfield. Perhaps his most notable signing of the summer of his second season was a swap deal of
Zlatan Ibrahimović for
FC Barcelona's
Cameroonian striker
Samuel Eto'o and a reported 35 million pound also went to inter. This transfer was the second most expensive in the history of the transfer market, after
Cristiano Ronaldo moved to
Real Madrid earlier in the summer. Eto'o got off to a promising start with Inter by scoring two goals in the first two matches of the season.
Ricardo Quaresma's signing from Mourinho's old club
Porto was viewed as a missing link in the Inter squad, but his play disappointed the club and led him to be loaned off to
Chelsea midway through the season, ironically Mourinho's other former club. Mancini also failed to dominate in the midfield and addressing these shortcomings in the transfer market became a priority for Inter. Inter's lack of a creative playmaker, or
trequartista, has been blamed for the Champions League failure. In their attempt to deal with this issue, Inter signed Dutch midfielder
Wesley Sneijder from Real Madrid.
Mourinho once again sparked controversy in the summer with his argument with Italy national team coach
Marcello Lippi. Lippi predicted that
Juventus would win the
Scudetto in the 2009–10 season, which Mourinho viewed Lippi's comments as disrespectful to Inter. The previous year, Lippi predicted Inter would win the title and Mourinho did not respond to his prediction. Lippi responded by saying that Mourinho was equal to
Ciro Ferrara and
Leonardo at Juventus and Milan, respectively, only that he was more experienced. After the row with Lippi, he clashed with Italy captain
Fabio Cannavaro over
Davide Santon's place in the Inter squad. Cannavaro had said that Santon might have to leave Inter to get regular playing time so he wants to play for Italy in the World Cup. Mourinho responded by saying that Cannavaro was acting like a coach.
Inter struggled in their first two matches of the new season. The team lost the Italian SuperCup to
Lazio 2–1 and drew 1–1 with newly promoted
Bari at the
San Siro. Mourinho's team improved dramatically since then, however, as he built a formidable midfield with Sneijder at the heart of it and the likes of new signing Thiago Motta and veterans
Javier Zanetti and
Dejan Stanković. Inter went on score more than 30 goals (as of the end of November), thrashing derby rivals Milan 4–0, with new signings Diego Milito and Motta both scoring, and hammering Genoa 5–0, the largest margin of victory in the Serie A that season. He was sent off in the December
Derby d'Italia away fixture after he sarcastically applauded the referee for what he felt was a dubious free-kick given to Juventus and Inter went on to lose 2–1, courtesy of a
Claudio Marchisio winner in the second-half.
[42]
Later during the season, Mourinho maintained a strongly critical position against refereeing in Italy, which reached its peak during the February 22, 2010 league game against
Sampdoria, ended in a 0–0 tie, with two Inter players being sent off in the first half. At the end of the first half, José Mourinho made a handcuffs gesture towards a camera which was considered by the Football Association as violent and critical of the refereeing performance, and caused a three-game ban against the Portuguese coach.
[43] Also, his difficult relationship with young striker
Mario Balotelli and the team's loss of form that led Inter to achieve only seven points in six games (and three of such games, including a shock 1–3 defeat at the hands of Sicilian minnows
Catania, happening during Mourinho's ban) were heavily criticized by the media and pundits. Despite this, Mourinho achieved what was hailed as one of his career highlights after Inter managed to progress to the
UEFA Champions League quarter-finals by defeating Mourinho's former team
Chelsea in both legs (2–1 win at San Siro, then followed by a 1–0 win at
Stamford Bridge).
[44]
On the 6th of April 2010, José Mourinho became the first manager in history to take three different teams to the semi-finals of the
UEFA Champions League (this record was equalled by
Bayern Munich manager
Louis van Gaal a day later) after his
Internazionale managed to overcome
CSKA Moscow 0–1 in Russia in the second leg of their quarter-final tie, which ended 2–0 on aggregate.
Wesley Sneijder's goal in the sixth minute proved the difference in a match played in laid-back style. This marked the first time in seven years that
Internazionale managed to make it to the semi-finals of the competition.
[45] On April 13th,
Internazionale continued its good season, having managed to qualify for the
Coppa Italia final, for the first time under Mourinho, by beating
Fiorentina 1–0 away (2–0 on aggregate).
[46] On April 28th 2010, José Mourinho reached the
UEFA Champions League Final for the second time in his career after
Internazionale beat current holders
Barcelona 3-2 on aggregate, after losing 1-0 on the night (which Mourinho called "the most beautiful defeat of my life") and brought
Internazionale back into a
UEFA Champions League Final 38 years after their last, where they were defeated by
AFC Ajax.
[47] The final was at the
Santiago Bernabeu Stadium,
Madrid against
Bayern Munich on May 22.
On May 2, after a 2-0 away win at Rome against
Lazio, Inter almost secured the Serie A title. On May 5, the team won the
Coppa Italia, defeating
AS Roma 1-0 and on the 16th May Inter beat Siena 1-0 to secure the domestic double.
On May 22, 2010, Inter won the UEFA Champions League beating Bayern Munich 2-0, and in doing so Inter became the first Italian club to complete
The Treble and Mourinho personally celebrated the second "treble win" in his managerial career and second Champions League win.
Managerial statistics
| Team | Nat | From | To | Record |
| G | W | D | L | Win % |
| Benfica |  | 20 September 2000 | 5 December 2000 | &0000000000000011.00000011 | &0000000000000006.0000006 | &0000000000000003.0000003 | &0000000000000002.0000002 | &0000000000000054.55000054.55 |
| Leiria | | January 2001 | 20 January 2002 | &0000000000000031.00000031 | &0000000000000017.00000017 | &0000000000000010.00000010 | &0000000000000004.0000004 | &0000000000000054.84000054.84 |
| Porto | | 23 January 2002 | 26 May 2004 | &0000000000000123.000000123 | &0000000000000087.00000087 | &0000000000000021.00000021 | &0000000000000015.00000015 | &0000000000000070.73000070.73 |
| Chelsea |  | 2 June 2004 | 20 September 2007 | &0000000000000185.000000185 | &0000000000000131.000000131 | &0000000000000036.00000036 | &0000000000000018.00000018 | &0000000000000070.81000070.81 |
| Internazionale |  | 2 June 2008 |
| &0000000000000108.000000108 | &0000000000000067.00000067 | &0000000000000026.00000026 | &0000000000000015.00000015 | &0000000000000062.04000062.04 |
| Total | &0000000000000458.000000458 | &0000000000000308.000000308 | &0000000000000096.00000096 | &0000000000000054.00000054 | &0000000000000067.25000067.25 |
Statistics accurate as of match played 22 May 2010
Unbeaten home record
As of May 9 2010, Mourinho is on a run of 136 home league matches unbeaten: 38 (W36–D2) with
Porto, 60 (W46–D14) with
Chelsea and 38 (W29–D9) with
Internazionale.
His last and only home league defeat came when
Porto were defeated 3–2 by
Beira-Mar on 23 February 2002.
[48]
Managerial honours
In eight seasons of club management, including an eight month sabbatical in 2007-08, Mourinho has led his club to win its domestic league six times and the
UEFA Champions League twice.
- Porto (2002-2004)
- Chelsea (2004-2007)
- Internazionale (2008-)
Individual honours
Special Awards
Controversy
Mourinho has often been seen as a controversial figure in football. His time at Chelsea, in particular, fuelled this viewpoint as he frequently made outspoken comments that saw him face punishment from the footballing authorities.
[51]
On 6 October 2004,
Adrian Mutu accused Mourinho of trying to prevent him from playing in a World Cup qualifier. Mourinho was informed by the Chelsea medical team that the player was unfit after a knee injury, but Mutu disagreed and insisted he was fit to play.
[52][53] The fitness disagreement soon became irrelevant as Mutu tested positive for
cocaine in a routine
drugs test and he was sacked on 29 October 2004.
[54]
Following a Champions League tie between Chelsea and
FC Barcelona in March 2005, Mourinho accused
Anders Frisk and Barcelona coach
Frank Rijkaard of breaking
FIFA rules by having a meeting at half–time. Mourinho insisted that this biased the referee and caused him to send off Chelsea striker
Didier Drogba in the second half.
[55] Frisk admitted that Rijkaard had tried to speak to him but insisted that he had sent him away.
[56] The situation intensified when Frisk began to receive death threats from angered fans, causing the referee to retire prematurely.
[57] The
UEFA referee's chief,
Volker Roth, labelled Mourinho an "enemy of football",
[58] although UEFA distanced themselves from the comment.
[59] After an investigation of the incident, Mourinho was given a two-match touchline ban for his behaviour and both Chelsea and the manager were fined by UEFA, though the body confirmed that it did not hold Mourinho personally responsible for Frisk's retirement.
[60][61]
On 2 June 2005, Mourinho was fined £200,000 for his part in the meeting with then
Arsenal full-back
Ashley Cole in January 2005 in breach of the Premier League rules. His fine was later reduced to £75,000 after a hearing in August.
[62] Later that year, he labelled Arsenal manager
Arsène Wenger "a voyeur" after being irked at what he saw as the latter's apparent obsession with Chelsea. Wenger was furious with the remark and considered taking legal action against Mourinho.
[63] However, the animosity died down and the two managers made peace after Mourinho admitted that he regretted making the comment.
[64]
After a league match with
Everton on 17 December 2006, Mourinho branded
Andrew Johnson "untrustworthy" following a challenge with Chelsea keeper
Henrique Hilário. Everton issued a statement threatening legal action and calling on Mourinho to apologize,
[65] which he later did.
[66]
In August 2009, Mourinho again found himself causing controversy after commenting that the performance of
Muslim player
Sulley Muntari was lacking fitness and energy due to fasting during the month of
Ramadan. He was reported to have said, "Muntari had some problems related to Ramadan, perhaps with this heat it's not good for him to be doing this (fasting). Ramadan has not arrived at the ideal moment for a player to play a football match."
[67] The comments sparked an angry response from Muslim leader Mohamed Nour Dachan, who responded, "I think Mourinho could do with talking a little less. A practising [Muslim] player is not weakened because we know from the Institute of Sports Medicine that mental and psychological stability can give a sportsman an extra edge on the field."
On April 21, 2010, after Inter's 3-1 win against FC Barcelona in Milan, Catalan media revealed that Mourinho and Portuguese referee
Olegário Benquerença (who was the referee of the
San Siro match) were long time friends and also that they co-own a restaurant called
O Menino in
Leiria,
Portugal, accusing Benquerença's friendship with Mourinho of being responsible for Inter's win (Benquerença counted an
offside goal by
Diego Milito. Catalan radio and media also revealed that Benquerença is called
Larapio ("thief") in Portugal, since a 2004 match between
Benfica and
Porto in
Lisbon in which Benquerença disallowed a clear goal by Benfica's
Petit, thus helping Porto to win 1-0; however, that match took place the season after Mourinho's departure from the club.
[68] Mourinho himself denied any such allegiances. "I have no restaurant with anybody" he said, "maybe Pep has a restaurant in Oslo", taunting Norwegian referee
Tom Henning Ovrebo's role in Barcelona's qualification against Chelsea in London for the
2008-09 UEFA Champions League semifinal.
Personal life
Mourinho with his children, Matilde and José Jr.
Mourinho met his wife Tami when they were teenagers in Setúbal, Portugal, and the couple married in 1989.
[69][70] Their first child, daughter Matilde, was born in 1996 and they had their first son, José, Jr., four years later. Mourinho, whilst dedicated to football, describes his family as the centre of his life and has noted that the "most important thing is my family and being a good father."
[4][70] He was selected as the
New Statesman Man of the Year 2005 and was described as a man devoted to both his family and his work.
[3] Mourinho has also been a part of social initiatives and charity work, helping with a youth project, bringing Israeli and Palestinian children together through football and donating his "lucky" jacket to
Tsunami Relief, earning £22,000 for the charity.
[71][72]
Widely known for his strong personality, refined dress sense,
[73] and quirky comments at press conferences,
[74] Mourinho has experienced fame outside of football circles, featuring in European advertisement campaigns for
Samsung,
American Express and
Adidas, amongst others.
[75] An unofficial biography of Mourinho, titled
O Vencedor – De Setúbal a Stamford Bridge (The Winner – from Setúbal to Stamford Bridge), was a best seller in Portugal. However, Mourinho did not authorise the biography and attempted, unsuccessfully, to prevent the book from being published.
[76]
Mourinho was part of an unusual event in May 2007 when he was arrested for preventing animal welfare officials from putting his dog in to
quarantine.
[77] The dog had not been sufficiently inoculated but the situation was resolved after it was returned to Portugal and Mourinho received a police caution.
[78]
In 23 March 2009, José Mourinho was awarded a doctorate
honoris causa degree by the
Technical University of Lisbon for his accomplishments in football.
[50]
Mourinho speaks Portuguese, Spanish, Italian, French and English fluently. He also speaks Catalan.
[79]
If you are planning a trip to South Africa for the 
South Africa is the Rainbow Nation, and the cultural diversity you will encounter everywhere you go can only amaze you. South Africans also have a history of race division, however, and although they seem on the surface to enjoy a highly developed sense of inter-race humor, it pays as a rule to keep clear of any searching debates about race and race politics.
Here again expect astonishing variety and high standards of service and facilities.
A growing feature of the South African hospitality industry in the 
Seasoned African travelers who are accustomed to a complete lack of consumer culture on the ground are usually amazed when crossing the Limpopo into South Africa to be confronted immediately by an American style Mall culture that in many respects exceeds the lavish supply of the original. 
It is very easy to get connected up with a cell phone, and pay-as-you-go set up is a simple matter of walking into your local or airport Vodacom or MTN store.
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