THE SPECIAL ONE

I'll asume that not everyone knows  this intelligent manager. Jose Mourinho is better known by his many admirers as The Special One. This well spoken gentleman is back in the media spotlight again. Here is a brief summary of his life thus far. Jose Mourinho was born on 26 January 1963 in Setubal, Portugal. He is a catholic and is a devoted family man.

In eight full seasons as a manager with FC Porto, Chelsea FC, FC Internazionale and Real Madrid, Jose Mourinho, 48, has won fifteen major trophies, including two UEFA Champions League titles and six domestic league championships.


Furthermore the tactian holds the record of playing one hundred and fifty home league matches without a loss with four different clubs over nine years.

Unlike most managers, Jose Mourinho broke into elite coaching not as a former star player – his brief career as a defender ended at age 24 – but as an interpreter. He translated for English manager Sir Bobby Robson for five seasons, first in Portugal and then in Spain, at FC Barcelona.

When Robson left FC Barcelona in 1997, Mourinho stayed on as an assistant coach under Louis Van Gaal, earning the Dutchman’s trust for his tactical acumen, player relationships and famously detailed scouting reports. Mourinho had started analysing teams as a teenager for his father, Felix, a former player and coach of Portugal.

By the time The Special One took over at FC Porto in the Portuguese first division 2002/03, he’d formed a guiding philosophy. "The decisive moments in most games are the transitions, the instants when teams spring from defense to attack (and vice versa) after a change of possession, when opponents can be off-balance". He argues that’s the reason why he desires to have players with the “tactical culture to analyse a game.”

My most memorable press conference of his was his first as Chelsea FC manager in 2004, when he grew exasperated by the skepticism over his arrival from his native Portugal. “The English Press was talking to me like I was coming from the moon”, he says. “Who are you? Do you have the quality to work in England? For God’s sake, give me a chance. I won the Champions League with FC Porto. I’m a special one. Don’t kill me on my first day! “But they got it as if I was saying” – here he adopts the voice of the Almighty – “I am The Special One”, Jose Mourinho explains.

Mourinho's worst defeat came during his "first clásico" encounter against FC Barcelona. The match, held in Nou Camp which ended 5-0 to the hosts, Real Madrid director Florentino Pérez regarded it as the worst game in the history of Real Madrid. The brilliant Jose Mourinho however made amends for the defeat when he won his first trophy in Spanish football as Real Madrid defeated FC Barcelona 1–0 in the Copa del Rey final held at the Mestalla in Valencia ending Real Madrid's eighteen-month-long cup drought.


He speaks five different languages fluently including: Portuguese, English, Italian, Spanish and French. Mourinho has a rule: when he addresses his teams, he does so in the language of the team’s country, the better to integrate the players into the club and the culture. At FC Internazionale he spoke Italian even though four out of his twenty-four man squad were Italian.

The Special One reminisces on his career: “I had the luck of making history in those three clubs,” he says. “At Porto it was winning the Champions League without any money. We played Manchester United and Real Madrid where the salary of one player was enough to pay the whole FC Porto team. Chelsesa was very special because it was the first time Chelsea was English champions in 50 years. In the Champions League with Inter we were far from being the most powerful team. We had to play four times in the competition against the best team in the world last season, which was Barcelona”.

In conclusion I think that the combination of Jose Mourinho and Real Madrid is very good for football.