Saturday, August 13, 2011

JOSE MOURINHO - "NO ONE WILL SHUT ME UP." SEASON (2011/12)

Looking calm and unruffled, Jose Mourinho returned to face the Spanish press for the first time since April 2011 when a famous outburst earned him a five-match sanction from the UEFA panel.
 
And the Real Madrid coach had a clear message for all ahead of Sunday's Spanish Supercup first-leg match against FC Barcelona: "No one will shut me up."
 
Saturday was the Portuguese coach's first news conference in Spain since a 3-2 defeat to Real Zaragoza, which came after a 2-0 loss to FC Barcelona in the UEFA Champions League semifinals on 27 April 2011.
 
Then, Jose Mourinho went on a long-winded rant claiming  FC Barcelona's recent successes were down to preferential treatment from the UEFA panel and referees.
 
When asked what he had learned from the entire episode, Jose Mourinho was clear again: "I learned you can't tell the truth."
 
Jose Mourinho refused to give his thoughts on FC Barcelona, including when asked if he thought the three-time defending Spanish champion's squad was perhaps among the all-time greats.
 
"I don't talk about Barcelona. I only talk about my team," Jose Mourinho said at Santiago Bernabeu Stadium, where the club said 57,000 fans came out to watch an open training session.
 
But that lighthearted atmosphere did not translate indoors to the season's first news conference.
 
While Jose Mourinho looked as posied and assured as ever, the season was already heating up thanks to the Portuguese coach's choice of words. Including when it came to the two UEFA Champions League matches he still has to miss as part of his ban.
 
"I won't talk about the Champions League for as long as I'm sanctioned," Jose Mourinho responded when asked if a 10th European Cup was the top priority this season.
 
But he also celebrated UEFA's reduction of his original ban.
 
"I've had some important victories during my career but for an organism like Uefa, which is not a normal or democratic organism, to reduce my sanction has tremendous significance. Tremendous significance," he said.
 
"They didn't reduce it any more because they would have found themselves in an uncomfortable situation so for me it's a great victory. Either way, as long as I'm sanctioned, I won't talk about the Champions League."
 
UEFA's appeal panel ruled that while Jose Mourinho's formal five-match sanction should stand, two matches instead of one would be suspended for three years.
 
Jose Mourinho served one match of the ban last season when he missed the semifinal return leg, a 1-1 draw at the Camp Nou that sent FC Barcelona to the final where they won Manchester United, at the Wembly Stadium.
 
Joe Mourinho was content with his squad this summer. Sunday's first leg at the Santiago Bernabeu will offer a good test for the season ahead, when Real Madrid will look to end FC Barcelona's run of three straight league trophies. The return leg is on 17 August 2011 (Wednesday) at the Camp Nou.
 
"For me this is an isolated tournament and it doesn't have much to do with what will happen next. Look at what happened at Inter [Milan] - we lost the supercup ... and then won the treble,"
 
Jose Mourinho said. "It's the most important tournament of the season and the least important of the season."
 
Jose Mourinho said while the structure at Real Madrid had changed since general director Jorge Valdano was fired in May 2011, his own role had not altered drastically.

"We have a structure, we have to keep improving the structure - it's not something we can just put in practice and sleep on it," Jose Mourinho said.

"We know where we want to go and we are happy with the beginning of the structure we put in practice. From the president to general director and down to me and [Zinedine] Zidane, we are working hard and we are happy."

In conclusion - I think that Jose Mourinho is a football icon. And  regardless of whether or not he fails to win the La Liga or the UEFA Champions League trophies - his job is safe and secure for yet another season.

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