José Mourinho talks about the future, Saudi Arabia, and Roma as well. The Portuguese coach has spoken again about the yellow and reds following his dismissal in the run-up to Euro 2024. The Special One spoke on Fabrizio Romano's Youtube channel for Topps, the official card game of the football event. To the Italian journalist, Mourinho discussed his past in yellow and red, the objectives achieved in the Capital such as the two European finals, but also about Saudi Arabia and Portugal, which sought him out.
Mourinho at the MotoGP Grand Prix: «I miss working, back to Italy? I will return to football»
I see you're eager to return. How do you feel about your future? «Your feeling is right, I'm ready to start again. Sometimes when you finish at a club you need to rest, think, and process things. In this case, the day after I left I was already ready. I feel strong and I'm fine. I love my job and I'm really ready, but I don't want to make the wrong choice. I can't accept something just because I want to return. I have to be patient because it's March. It's unlikely that something will happen between March and April. My goal is to start next summer».
You're the only one who has reached two consecutive European finals in two years. How do you feel? «The first feeling is that it seems like nothing happened because people talking about me seem more focused on the past. And it's true with many coaches in Europe who normally coach the best teams with more possibilities to reach the final. In recent years I've made three finals, one with Manchester United and two with Roma and if we focus only on the last two years, I'm the only one with two European finals. I look back with a bit of amusement, but also pride because looking back you realize it's special to achieve these results with a team without history and no history in Europe. This season I will not play a European final, but I hope that next year I can say that in the last four years I've played four finals».
How do you feel when you see all the fans who continue to love you after all this time? «I've always said that the best thing about football are the fans. Because they don't earn from football, but they spend money, sometimes they spend sums that the family needs and they make sacrifices for their passion. I've been lucky enough to always have something to celebrate to leave a good memory with the fans. I think when they see that you are devoted to them, and I always am towards my fans regardless of the team and the nation, they feel that I have given everything. Because of my personality, in the end, I'm always something more than a fan. In some teams, you have to be a coach, then the technical director, the communications director, then you have to be the image that defends the team and finally the players. This is something people realize. At the same time, however, it's something that the coach does not love because I as a coach just want to coach. The ideal scenario is when a team has a structure to allow the coach to be the coach on the field, in training, in the locker room: to do the coaching. I was a coach at Inter, Real Madrid, my first time at Chelsea, and Porto. In other clubs, I wasn't the coach and it was difficult. I think the fans notice that as soon as I arrive at a club I wear their shirt and fight for them».
How do you feel towards Portugal and Arab football? «With Portugal, I had the door open twice, they asked me to go. Once when I was at Real Madrid and the goal was to become the part-time national coach. I realized it wasn't feasible when Florentino Perez told me it wasn't possible to accept it. Do I regret refusing the National team the second time with Roma, even though a few months later I was dismissed? No, I don't regret not accepting because I had a reason to be happy. I don't regret wanting to coach a National team in the future, it's a goal, but if you ask me in the future. I'm not sure I would have been happy in the past. If they had asked me before the Euro, the World Cup, the Africa Cup, or America I say yes. But two years waiting for these competitions to work, I don't know. Maybe if I had accepted then one day I wouldn't have been sure anymore. Saudi Arabia? Cristiano has opened the door to make people believe it's nice to be there, to work there, and to enjoy the development of a nation that wants to be different in football terms even if there isn't a real passion. He has opened the door. When I had the proposal it was certainly important in economic terms, but I refused because for me Roma, European football, the objectives, and the commitment were more important. If you ask me about the future, experience has taught me never to say never. If you ask me why I go to Arabia these days it's to enjoy football, Formula 1, boxing, and to be with some friends, not because I will sign for some club because now is the time to decide what to do».
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