Jose Mourinho- the special one
Jose Mourinho is one of the prominent names in football. He is a very controversial yet successful manager. Some hate him, some love him but admiration for the Portuguese is mutual. Mourinho came into reckoning during his stint as the manager of FC Porto.
Later he went on to manage Chelsea and Inter Milan. Currently he is the manager of Real Madrid.
In the year 2002 Mourinho was officially in charge of Porto. During his 1st season he won 11 games, lost 2 and drew 2. He then promised the fans to deliver the Championship the following year.
The charismatic Mourinho lived up to his promise and Porto were crowned champions after amassing an impressive 86 points, 11 ahead of 2nd place Benfica. The trophies did not end there, Porto did the treble, winning the UEFA Cup and the Portuguese
cup on the way.
If this season was not spectacular enough Jose Mourinho led Porto to the UEFA Champions League trophy in the next. Porto also managed to defend the Portuguese League title and did so with an unbeaten home record.
The Champions League victory was very special for a club as small as Porto. On their road to victory Porto only lost 1 game to Real Madrid in the group stage. Later Mourinho guided Porto past Manchester United in the knock out stage. The Old Trafford crowd
witnessed one of the trademark Mourinho celebrations when he ran the length of the field and celebrated emphatically after Porto had scored in the dying moments of the match.
Mourinho was now on the radar for bigger European clubs and when the cash rich Chelsea offered him a contract, he could not refuse. He took over the helm at Chelsea in June 2004. In his first interview with the English media, Mourinho attracted controversy
after calling himself “the special one”. At first the English media made fun of his arrogance but Mourinho eventually did prove his worth.
During his first season with Chelsea, Mourinho won the league after a 50 year gap for the club. A record number of points record was set in the English Premier League. Chelsea were the undisputed champions of England and Mourinho had answered his critics
that included the likes of Sir Alex Ferguson.
The following season Mourinho repeated the feat. Chelsea clinched the league after beating rivals Manchester United 3-0. Mourinho once again got the better of a very disappointed Sir Alex. After receiving his championship medal, Mourinho threw both his blazer
and the medal into the crowd. His personality was becoming even bigger than the media. Unfortunately for Mourinho European success eluded him again.
However, the next season saw Mourinho’s relationship with owner Roman Abrahmovich deteriorate. Chelsea failed to win the league and the Red Devils from Manchester were crowned the champions. Many began to speculate the departure of Mourinho. Poor start
to the following season resulted in the exit of the “the special one”.