Jose Mourinho has enjoyed many memorable wins in his career, but one stands out above the rest for the legendary manager.
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Jose Mourinho has revealed his most emotional triumphIt formed part of a historic seasonHe said it was "something absolutely incredible"Follow GOAL on WhatsApp! 🟢📱WHAT HAPPENED?
Jose Mourinho has revealed the triumph that made him the most emotional in his managerial career. Speaking as part of the BBC documentary series 'How to Win the Champions League', the former Real Madrid, Chelsea, Manchester United and Inter boss picked out a famous aggregate victory over a club that played a key role in his coaching education.
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Fittingly for Mourinho, the game he picked out was one in which his side produced a stunning defensive effort to preserve an aggregate win. Inter Milan went into the second leg of the 2010 Champions League semi-finals leading Pep Guardiola’s Barcelona 3-1, but had to play with their backs against the wall after Thiago Motta was sent off in the 28th minute.
It wasn’t until the 84th minute that Gerard Pique halved the aggregate deficit for Barca, but Inter hung on to send Mourinho sprinting onto the pitch in delight.
Mourinho said of that display: "It meant to beat, at that time, the best team in Europe in that moment and I think the situation of nobody believed that could be possible gives you an extra motivation and the fact that you play with 10 men for so long makes it from an emotional point of view, makes it something absolutely incredible.
"If I could choose one of my team most the emotional performances in a career of more than 20 years. If I had to choose. I had to choose that one."
AFPTHE BIGGER PICTURE
Though Inter still had to beat Bayern Munich to complete a famous treble, the semi-final with Barca is regarded as the defining triumph of that campaign. For Mourinho, it wasn’t just a victory over one of the most venerated teams in football history, but also a success for his more pragmatic approach to the game over Guardiola’s celebrated brand of free-flowing possession-based football.
On top of that, for the man who gained key experience at Barca working as Bobby Robson’s assistant and translator in the 1990s, it set the stage for him to go head to head with Guardiola with a move to Real Madrid.
AFPWHAT NEXT FOR MOURINHO?
While Guardiola remains at the forefront of European football with Manchester City, albeit enduring one of his most disappointing seasons in his time at the Etihad Stadium, Mourinho is somewhat out of the limelight at Fenerbahce.
Mourinho and Fener suffered a humbling Europa League exit at the hands of Rangers in the last 16, but they are still in the thick of the title race in Turkey, trailing arch rivals Galatasaray by just three points. If Mourinho can inspire Fener to silverware, perhaps that could be a springboard to a return to the stages to which he is more accustomed.
