Five Things about Mourinho that you did not know

That Jose Mourinho is the ‘Special One’ we all know. We also know that wherever he goes trophies follow. But here are quite a few things you don’t know about him.

1. He wanted to be the manager for Barcelona but he wasn’t considered.

Before making a foray as a manager, Mourinho worked under Sir Bobby Robson, first as an interpreter and then as an assistant under him and his successor Louis van Gaal. He expected him to be named Barcelona’s manager for his contributions. But he wasn’t even considered. This fueled him to become the man that he is right now: The best manager in the world.

2. Mourinho is youngest among the only five managers to win Champions League with two teams.

The Portuguese makes the list of being among the only five managers to ever win the prestigious and the most coveted title in Europe: The UEFA Champions League. He is also the youngest among the list of those managers. The others are Jupp Heynckes, Ottmar Hitzfeld, Ernst Happel and Carlo Ancelotti.

3. Mourinho is highly emotional and always has special relationships with his players.

You may know this fact. As notorious and tactical as he is, the Chelsea manager is very emotional. Here’s a video of Mourinho crying with Marco Materazzi after he had won the Champions League with Inter Milan and was departing to Real Madrid.

4. He once hid in a laundry basket to avoid being seen while he was banned.

Mourinho was banned from attending the UEFA Champions League match against Bayern Munich in 2004-05. So he hatched a plan to hide in the player’s dressing room early to talk to his players and then later sneaked out by hiding in a laundry basket.

5. He once took a direct snipe at Chelsea owner Roman Abramovich before leaving in 2007.

Mourinho never shied away from conflict. Here’s an excerpt from among his last interviews for Chelsea back in 2007. “Omelettes, eggs. No eggs, no omelettes. And it depends on the quality of the eggs in the supermarket. They are class one, two or three, and some are more expensive than others and some give you better omelettes. When the class one eggs are not available, you have a problem." This also happens to be one of his best quotes.