Jose Mourinho said that the way Sir Alex Ferguson and Gary Neville showed him Manchester United were from a ‘different world'.
It was never a secret that Jose Mourinho dreamed of managing Manchester United but the 53-year-old’s revealed the extent of his long-held ambition.
The Portuguese boss first came to the attention of English football when he wildly celebrated Porto’s Champions League last-16 victory at Old Trafford by storming down the touchline to celebrate with his players.
Mourinho would go on to win the competition that season and announced himself as the ‘Special One’ in his first press conference at Chelsea that summer.
The 53-year-old is now, of course, at Old Trafford after years of dreaming about managing at the Theatre of Dreams.
And Mourinho’s revealed that it was the respect that Gary Neville and Sir Alex Ferguson showed to him after Porto’s victory in 2003 that showed him Manchester United were from a ‘different world’.
‘The relationship started bad. Because in [the first leg in] Porto, he [Sir Alex Ferguson] was upset with the result [Porto won 2-1] and with Roy Keane’s red card – but I was a football man and I respect that this is the game, so nothing happened.
Then, at the end of the second leg, we had an episode that was not normal in our culture,’ Mourinho told Sport Magazine.
‘We were in our dressing room, celebrating like it was the Champions League final – it was only the last 16. There was a knock on the door, and it was the manager and the captain – Sir Ferguson and Gary Neville. They say: “Well done, you deserve it, good luck for the future, bye”.
‘In Portugal, this is impossible to happen like this. Everybody looked at each other; we knew this is a different world.
‘After this episode, we had always a very respectful situation. We were fighting for the title, we were playing so many times against each other. I played United with Madrid, with Inter Milan, with Porto, with Chelsea – FA Cup final, Community Shield, League Cup semi finals. So many times, but always correct. I felt it couldn’t be a different way, because I was dealing with someone from a different world.’
Source: metro.co.uk
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