The football manager of Roma, Jose Mourinho has confirmed that he has nothing against Tottenham Hotspur and the owner of the club, Daniel Levy despite sacking him a few days before a cup final.
Before Jose Mourinho became the coach of Tottenham Hotspur, he had never coached a team without winning a major title since 2003. Hence, Tottenham Hotspur’s fans thought the 59-year-old Portuguese football coach could help the club end their 14 years of a trophy-less run.
Note that the last time Tottenham Hotspur won a major title was in 2008. Since Tottenham beat Chelsea 2-1 to win the 2008 Carling Cup at Wembley Stadium, they have never been so lucky again.
When Mourinho became Tottenham’s coach in 2019, he was expected to qualify the club for the UEFA Champions League and also help the club to win a major title. But he was not able to qualify the club for a Champions League spot.
However, Mourinho qualified Tottenham Hotspur for the 2021 EFL Cup final. Less than three days to the final, the club’s owner, Daniel Levy decided to sack the Portuguese coach. Hence, Mourinho could not lead Tottenham to the final of the competition.
Unfortunately for Tottenham Hotspur, coach Pep Guardiola’s Manchester City defeated Spurs 1-0 on 25 April 2021 to win the title.
Months after, Mourinho agreed to coach an Italian club, Roma. Despite having another job, the Portuguese coach has had to make bitter references to how Tottenham treated him.
Recently, before Jose Mourinho guided Roma to knock out Leicester City from the Europa Conference League at the semi-final stage, the coach recalled how Tottenham sacked him a few days before a cup final. He said: “The only match I want to win is the next one – even more so if that’s a semi-final. If you win, it gives you a right to play the final – if you are not sacked before the final.”
"A semi-final gives you the right to play a final…if you're not sacked!" 👀
— Sky Sports News (@SkySportsNews) May 4, 2022
Roma boss Jose Mourinho has again made a reference to when he was sacked by Tottenham days before the Carabao Cup final ❌ pic.twitter.com/czCBku2Ft3
The forgiveness of Jose Mourinho
Ahead of Roma’s Italian Serie A game against Venezia scheduled to take place on Saturday, May 14, 2022, at 19:45, Sky Sports asked Jose Mourinho whether the way Tottenham sacked him in 2021 still hurts him. The coach said “Yes. Yes, it hurt.”
The Portuguese tactician went on to stress that he has no regret over the sack, adding that he has no bad feelings towards Tottenham and the club’s owner.
“I am in the maturity of my career and also my life where I don’t have bad feelings. I just try to accept the things the way they are,” Mourinho told Sky Sports.
“I react in a funny way when I speak with some English journalists at press conferences. I always say the joke about qualifying for the [Conference League] Final, I hope not to be sacked this time because it’s something that doesn’t happen to too many coaches.
“This time I cannot say I’m the privileged one, because it happened to me.
“I don’t have regrets. I don’t have bad feelings. There are lots of nice people in Tottenham and I wish them the best. Even to Mr. Levy.
“But for a guy with my career and my history, I think it was a strange thing to happen.
“But in the end, it opened the door for me to be in Rome and I’m very happy to be in Rome.”
Jose Mourinho is expected to guide Roma to the final of the Conference League on May 25, 2022. The final which will kick off at 20:00 will be between Roma and Feyenoord at Air Albania Stadium in Tirana, Albania.
Note that Roma will not play in the UEFA Champions League in the coming 2022-2023 season because they are currently sitting on the 6th spot on the league table with 59 points in 36 games, 10 points below 4th placed Juventus with two league games to go.
