Jose Mourinho, first outburst after exoneration
The words of José Mourinho
José Mourinho è also returned to talk about his exoneration at Roma in his new article on 'Pulse Nigeria': "European competitions are about to begin, especially the Champions League, perhaps the most important competition on the world calendar. I won’t be there at these final stages, not because I have already been eliminated, but because I have been "eliminated" by someone who knows little about soccer. Soì è life, full of ups and downs, I am growing, despite the dismissal as unexpected as it was unfair. But I will be back, and with even more enthusiasm and confidence, for these UEFA matches".
" I have participated in so many matches and made it to the finals more than once. These are really special matches, for us coaches, for the fans and, of course, for the players. So I have enough experience and knowledge to know how to go forward, even when we have opponents with much greater potential than ours. At this stage I always keep in mind: in the first game you always play to win, in the second game you know what you need to move on to the next round i.e. win by one goal, draw or even lose by one or two goals. And knockout matches are run on that basis. Of course, è it is essential to know your opponents well, to study them, to analyze their merits and flaws, to see how they behave when they play home and away, to see how they react when the result è unfavorable. This knowledge makes it possible to devise the right strategy and provide players with all the essential information so that theyé know what they will face when they take the field".
L" As I have already written, I always approach the first game with the will to win, like Inter-Barcelona almost 15 years ago, which ended with my team winning 3-1. In the return match at Camp Nou, with the expulsion of Thiago Motta before the 30th, I played as I should: losing by one goal. I lost 1-0, but we achieved our goal: to get to the final. And we won. When it comes to achieving a goal you can use any strategy or tactics, and I have no problem using them. È a matter of intelligence and we don’t have to worry about what self-styled "commentators" say. "Ah; Mourinho put the'bus in front of the door". Yes, I did, but I played 10 against 11, and we played a really spectacular defensive game against Piqué, Xavi, Busquets, Ibrahimovic and Messi. In other words, è it was a smart strategy".
"However,” concludes Mourinho, “the situation has to change when the result of the’first leg è different, that is, when it ends in defeat. Then you have to think about what you have to do and you have to think about the overall result when the return match ends. I often review the first leg game, I try to find my mistakes and the mistakes of the whole team, I think about what I did in preparing that game and what I have to do in the return match. And I prepare the players because they are motivated by just playing such an important competition. I’ll give you another example from when I coached Chelsea. In 2005 we lost our first game in Catalonia 2-1. I had to find a way to overcome a very strong Barcelona, but I knew what we had to do to send Puyol, Deco, Xavi, Iniesta and Ronaldinho home. And because both I and the players knew that, we won 4-2 and moved on to the next round".
