Six years ago
Ignore
Mourinho shook up the Premier League during his time in England with quotes and behaviour that meant you either loved him or loathed him. The one thing you couldn’t do was ignore him.
Forty-seven year old Mourinho has been a huge success as a manager winning the Portuguese League twice, the Portuguese Cup, the UEFA Cup and the Champions League with Porto, the Premier League twice, the Carling Cup twice and the FA Cup with Chelsea and Serie A and the Supercoppa Italiana with Inter. That’s twelve major trophies in seven seasons.
Remarkable
Since his remarkable European success with Porto however, he has been unable to repeat that feat with either Chelsea or Inter. For a man who, with some justification, thinks he is the best, that fact will be seriously bothering him.
This season will probably be his last chance to gain European success with Inter before he moves on and he would have been hopeful that with the arrival of the likes of Eto’o, Sneijder and Milito, he could take the team to the next level. He would have preferred not to be drawn against Chelsea at this stage and he knows that this tie could prove to be another disappointment for him.
Task
When Mourinho was appointed as boss at Chelsea he had a clear task. He needed to bring the Premier League title to Stamford Bridge. He did that twice and his near misses in the Champions League were simply a bonus. In the Summer of 2008 when Mourinho was appointed as boss of Inter, his task was clear once again. Bring European success to the club.
Inter had won the three previous Serie A titles in a row so winning that again was expected. To take the club forward, he needed to do the business in the Champions League. They hadn’t tasted European success since 1965.
Failed
In his first attempt, he failed at the hands of Manchester United who beat them 2-0 on aggregate in the last sixteen. That simply repeated what had been achieved the year before.
So, will Inter progress further this year or will Chelsea end the dream once more? Some would say that they are now a better team even though they sold Zlatan Ibrahimovic to Barcelona. People say that with the likes of Eto’o and Sneijder, the side is far less one-dimensional than they were when everything was aimed at Swedish striker.
Develop
When Inter were beaten by Manchester United last season he said that he had not had time to develop the side the way he wanted. This time around, he will not have that excuse. In his second season in charge they are definitely now his team. After they beat Milan in January Mourinho said,
“This team is better than last year. It’s much better. If everyone is in good shape, we have more solutions. This is now my team, a team in my image.”
Mourinho has continued to be outspoken and outrageous in Italy and he is shortly going to be hit with his third touchline ban of the season.
Classic
Ahead of the current tie Mourinho has already said that he expects Chelsea to win the Champions League either this season or next. It is classic Mourinho as he tries to increase the pressure on his opponents. It won’t work with Ancelotti however as he was the boss of AC when the two men were rival managers in Milan.
To be fair, they really didn’t like each other. Ancelotti called Mourinho a ‘stirrer’ and when asked about Ancelotti, Mourinho said, ‘he’s no friend of mine’.
That mutual dislike also adds to the tension and excitement around this game.
Greats
It is six years since Mourinho won his one and only Champions League and if he is to be remembered as one of the true greats, he needs to add to that tally. He will be hoping that this season is a chance to do just that, but deep down, he will know that they are the underdogs against a very strong Chelsea side.
It will be fascinating and I doubt whether the tie will be won or lost in the first leg. What I do know is that in general, you tend to make more money if you don’t bet against Mourinho.
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