October 24 – The self-styled Special One appears to have lost none of his mischievous, outspoken impishness.
Jose Mourinho, currently in charge of Fenerbahce, faces a reunion with former club Manchester United in the Europa League tonight and says he has still not given up hope of winning a Premier League title if Manchester City are retroactively docked points due to Financial Fair Play breaches.
City are facing 115 charges of breaking Premier League financial regulations and face the possibility of being stripped of their titles or docked points if found guilty.
Mourinho led United to second place in the 2017-18 season – finishing 19 points behind champions City.
“We finished second in the Premier League,” Mourinho said at a news conference. “I think we still have a chance to win that league because maybe they punish Man City with points and maybe we win that league and they have to pay me the bonus and give me the medal.”
Mourinho believes United and another of his former clubs, Tottenham, are best-placed to win the Europa League.
“If I have to say now who are the two biggest candidates to win the Europa League, I think it’s easy, I would say Manchester United and Tottenham,” he said. “The Premier League is a different level of quality, a different level of intensity, of pace, of tactical culture, of everything.”
Mourinho believes he was treated differently to present United coach Erik Ten Hag who took over in April 2022 and has led them to two trophies – the League Cup in 2023 and last season’s FA Cup – even though they are currently 12th in the league table.
“They keep faith in the coach,” Mourinho said of United’s backing of Ten Hag. “They support the coach, the coach is staying season after season and that means stability, it means trust.”
Mourinho, who coached United from 2016 to 2018, winning a Europa League and Carabao Cup, was sacked with his team 11 points adrift of the Champions League places in December 2018. “They are giving him [Ten Hag] conditions to keep developing his job,” Mourinho said. “That was a difference in relation to me.”
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