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LONDON. — Jose Mourinho has taken another swipe at Cristiano Ronaldo by claiming that his fellow Portuguese is not the “real” Ronaldo.
The Chelsea boss, who recently stated that his former charge at Real Madrid “thinks he knows everything”, insinuated that he has more respect for Brazil legend Ronaldo, with whom he worked during his time at Barcelona under the guidance of Bobby Robson.
“I was manager for the first time in the 2000 year but, before that, I was assistant in big clubs and with big managers and coaching the best players in the world, so I was 30 and I was coaching Ronaldo, not this one (Cristiano), the real one, the Brazilian Ronaldo,” Mourinho told ESPN.
“I was coaching Rivaldo, I was coaching (Luis) Figo, I was coaching (Pep) Guardiola, I was coaching big players when I was very, very young.
“So, at that time, I was not the manager, I was just an assistant but I was feeling that I had, in my hands, some potential and after that I started my career in the year 2000 and after four years I won my first Champions League and, after that, everything comes as a consequence.”
Mourinho left Camp Nou in 2000 to coach Benfica but it was at rival Porto that he became a household name on the back of its remarkable Champions League success in 2004.
Meanwhile, Mourinho has claimed he was close to taking charge of England in 2007 before realising he would be bored by the low-key nature of international management.
The Football Association maintained Fabio Capello was always their first choice to succeed Steve McClaren following England’s failure to qualify for Euro 2008.
But Mourinho, who returned for a second spell in charge of Chelsea in June after leaving Real Madrid, insists he was in talks with the FA six years ago and briefly considered accepting the job.
However, with only a relatively small number of internationals scheduled for each season, the Portuguese coach decided he would miss the frenetic pace of club management too much.
“My plan at that time was just to try to motivate myself for a job (with England) that doesn’t fulfil me,” Mourinho told the Independent.
“What do I do? During the day I’m not training players, so I have to go and see them train in their clubs. I have to send my goalkeeper coach to work separately. I have to do this, I have to do that.
“At weekends, I see every match. I need a good apartment. I need to analyse and monitor the players.
“When they were speaking to me, the next match was France against England, a friendly in Paris. I thought, ‘France-England’ (is an attractive prospect)’.
“After that, what’s the next game? The next was one month later against Kazakhstan — no, no, no, no. We have contact and I thought about England. I was very young and I was very proud.” — AFP.
Online Reporter