On the eve of the huge weekend fixture against his former club, Manchester United manager Jose Mourinho says that it’s more meaningful for his side to face Liverpool than it is Chelsea. Mourinho could just be playing one of his typical mind games here, as obviously this clash means a whole lot to him, personally, on multiple levels for many reasons.
With so much attention being given to the recent war of words between himself and Chelsea manager Antonio Conte, this could be a clever attempt to downplay the magnified hype of this contest. Maybe it’s also meant to be a slap against Conte and the Blues. One thing is for sure, Liverpool remains the club’s biggest rival, and the two matches against the Reds will always be the games that mean the most to supporters.
“It’s any normal game and probably to play Liverpool in a couple of weeks’ time means more,” Mourinho said.
“Because for my club, and everyone knows that the most important thing is not me, and my club’s supporters to play Liverpool really has a special meaning.”
“That’s the way I have to look at things. And I don’t have any bad feeling in relation to Chelsea Football Club to say, ‘Oh, I’m going to play against my former club, I am going to prove this, I am going to prove that.’
“I’m not going to prove anything. In fact, every club I left, by my decision or by the board, which Chelsea was the only one, every one of my former clubs I have a very good feeling.”
“I’ve never played against Inter since I left, but I played against Porto, Real Madrid and Chelsea. The feeling is just a good one. Not a special feeling.”
Supporters of rival clubs like to mock Chelsea by joking about how they have only 14 years of history, referencing the year Russian oligarch and Vladimir Putin confidant Roman Abramovich bought the team and thus ushered in the club’s current phase of success.
Mourinho was hired soon after the billionaire took over the club and he led the Blues to two league titles, an FA Cup and two League Cups in three seasons.
He added another league and another League Cup in his second stint at Stamford Bridge, meaning he’s accomplished literally half the club’s league titles and close to half of their League Cups.
Paul M. Banks runs The Sports Bank.net and TheBank.News, which is partnered with News Now. Banks, a former writer for the Washington Times, NBC Chicago.com and Chicago Tribune.com, currently contributes regularly to WGN CLTV and the Tribune company’s blogging community Chicago Now.
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