Sunday was yet another familiar page in the life of Jose Mourinho at Old Trafford: A big game, tame performance with his team firmly rooted to their half for much of the contest, and subsequently losing pace in the title race. There was a time when the Portuguese used to thrive at the big stage. His teams were ruthless and effective but not without heart and gumption.
The aftermath of such results – the latest one being a 1-2 defeat in the hands of Manchester City – has also started to take a familiar pattern. Blaming referees, sometimes singling out his own players for stinging criticism, and of course, there is always time for picking up a fight with an opposition manager.
Last year, Mourinho and Chelsea manager Antonio Conte clashed over the latter trying to celebrate wildly – showing a lack of respect – after his side took a 4-0 lead against the Red Devils at Stamford Bridge. Leading up to the Manchester derby, Mourinho unleashed his mind games. One day, he questioned City manager Pep Guardiola being allowed to show solidarity to Catalan separatists. The verbal volleys continued with Mourinho accusing the Premier League leaders of going to ground too easy. After the game, fingers were pointed at the referee and how the Sky Blues should be ashamed of scoring two “disgraceful” goals.
Mourinho had sparked off a war and was at shoot-at-sight rage then. The battle raged on with reports of a mammoth melee near the City dressing room, which was kick-started with the Mourinho asking goalkeeper Ederson to “show some f***ing respect”. We have certainly not heard the last of what transpired between the two sets of players, which saw water and milk being sprayed around, atleast two of City’s staff needing medical attention and several punches being thrown by both sets of players who were there at the scene of crime.
Get it? It is never Mourinho’s fault, ever.
The Vilanova incident
El Clasico battles were never as bitter and volatile as it was during Mourinho’s time at the Spanish capital (2010-’13) – not before, not after. Each and every tie saw Barcelona and Real Madrid go furiously at each other with their fists clenched.
The curtain raiser for the 2011-’12 season was a SuperCoppa clash between the two Spanish giants. Barca had taken the edge as the clock ticked down to the final whistle. A frustrated Marcelo scythed down Cesc Fabregas near the touchline and chaos ensued. Even bar fights would have been put to shame as Mourinho sneaked his way into the scrum and poked late Tito Vilanova, who was Guardiola’s number two at the time, in the eye. He had a cheeky grin as he made his way back to the dugout.
When asked about the incident in the press conference that followed the game, Mourinho responded with, “I don’t know who this Pito (penis in Spanish) is.”
The ignominious farewell
This was Mourinho’s last game for Real Madrid and it did not end well for him. Despite being outright favourites to win the Copa del Rey, neigbours Atletico walked away with the trophy. Cristiano Ronaldo was sent off in extra time. Surprise, surprise....there was shirt pulling, throat catching and abuses being thrown. Mourinho did nothing to stop it.
The Conte/Wenger meltdown
There were no verbal barbs ahead of United’s 0-4 loss to Chelsea at Old Trafford. Mourinho got into Conte’s head by alleging a “lack of respect” from the Blues boss. United and Chelsea would meet in the FA Cup at Stamford Bridge once again. Conte was visibly incensed with a handful of United players cynically tackling the Blues’ talisman Eden Hazard. Conte and Mourinho were embroiled in a heated argument.
We have not seen the last of the Conte and Mourinho rivalry with the former going even refusing to shake hands after a 1-0 win against the Red Devils recently.
As for Arsene Wenger, Mourinho’s history with him dates back to his first spell at Chelsea (2004-’07). “The Special One” was on a mission to break Wenger down. After returning to London, Mourinho launched a blistering attack on the Arsenal boss, labelling him a “specialist in failure” among other things. So much for showing respect to your opponents, eh?
Wenger, on his part was wrong to precipitate simmering tensions between him and Mourinho by shoving him during a touchline spat during the 2014-’15 season.
Dalliance with Liverpool
There was no love lost between Mourinho and Rafael Benitez, currently in charge of Newcastle United, when he was in charge of Liverpool. It didn’t help matters that Chelsea and Liverpool clashed so regularly in the Champions League.
In the first video, which is from the league cup final of 2004-’05, one can see Mourinho placing his finger on his mouth, walking up to the Liverpool fans and taunting them when his side took the lead. Enter Mourinho 2.0, same opponent, same respect (or the lack of it). After shutting shop at Anfield and denying the Reds of their first league win in more than two decades, Mourinho yet again goads the fans, marching down the touchline and slamming his chest to prove a point. Yet again, “respect”, a word that is often viewed in hoardings every Fifa event, is quite palpable. Classy Mourinho.
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