The tears in Jose Mourinho's eyes with the final whistle of the rematch of the Conference League semi-final between Roma and Leicester, which sent the Italians to tonight's final in Albania, made football fans wonder how it could be that the 59-year-old, who went through so many great moments, So excited about qualifying for the finals of a new and negligible factory?
How does the Portuguese, who has often made it clear that he can not even get excited about winning the Europa League and sees it as an achievement, claim that today's game against Feyenoord is the most important in his career?
There are clear answers to this.
Since winning the championship with Chelsea in the 2014/2015 season, Mourinho has experienced continued professional failure.
He was sure he would bring Manchester United back to the top, but it ended in dismissal despite one title;
He instilled a spirit of change and hope in Tottenham, but was sacked again.
The degrees took a distance from him, the popularity plummeted and all that was left of the "special" was discussions about his character.
Whenever his name was mentioned - if in the past success overshadowed his being irritable and arrogant, his narcissism became paramount.
Jose Mourinho in tears.
You can see what this means to José.
He will do anything to bring this city, this club, to glory.
And lets be honest, it's a message to the world that he is still the special one.pic.twitter.com/3ILYrDBNvt
- Lupo TV (@LupoTVofficial) May 5, 2022
Now he is close to a reversal: After winning the Champions League twice with Porto (2004) and Inter (2010), lifting the UEFA Cup with Porto (2003) and the Europa League Cup with Manchester United (2017), Mourinho could become the first coach tonight In the history of winning the three existing enterprises, five years after his last degree, on the way another page in history awaits him as winning would be Rome's first ever European title, 95 years after the group was founded.
Mourinho with Roma fans.
Connect quickly, Photo: IPI
Change your thinking
A fragile mentality is Rome's greatest curse over the years.
The Wolves have a total of three championships (last in 2001) and have finished second 14 times, mostly in the last two decades.
Mourinho was brought to Rome to change everything and instill a winning mentality in the club, and here already in his first season he is close to providing fans with moments of contentment.
"One Scudetto with Roma equals ten with AC Milan or Juventus," said legendary Italian coach Fabio Capello, who won the championship with the three teams he mentioned.
Mourinho has internalized these things, and wants to prove otherwise to anyone who has claimed that his arrival in Rome is a very big step back in his career and that this is a club that is small in size.
He really likes to get to a club that needs a leap and do things that no one has done before, like he did with Porto, Chelsea and Inter.
Usually his influence is noticeable only in the second season in the teams he reaches, but in Rome it is already in the first season.
Although there were difficult moments, such as the 6: 1 defeat to the Norwegian Bodo Glimt, signs of possible success are already appearing on the Giallorossi uniform: he improved the ability of quite a few players (Tami Avraham in a record-breaking season) A great achievement for a team that can not afford to buy reinforcements worth tens of millions of euros.
Rome players celebrate.
Change in thinking, Photo: Gettyimages
Same passion
In an interview with the UEFA official website last weekend, ahead of tonight's final, Mourinho was asked about his moving cries after the semi-final and also when he thinks he will retire. "I can not say when I will stop coaching, because I can not imagine it, my passion is not "He certainly proved it in the 22nd season of as head coach, as after his name was engraved in the history of Italian football thanks to the treble with Inter 12 years ago, this passion led him as a step from a historic moment even with Rome, a club not as strong and rich as the Narazzi. .
But Mourinho knows one more thing, as the cliché goes: "The money is counted on the stairs," and he will want to climb on them tonight at the "Arena Kombatara" in Tirana and swing the trophy.
After all, for him, and given his past statements about trophies of this kind, there is only one worse thing than that he will only win the negligible Conference League trophy - not win it.
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