Roma manager, Jose Mourinho almost drew his 1,000th game as a football manager on Sunday, September 12, 2021, during a Serie A game against Sassuolo. But an injury-time strike from Stephan El Shaarawy became the game-changer.
Jose Mourinho’s Roma got the lead in the 37th minute, thanks to a strike from 26-year-old Italian star Bryan Cristante.
The home team went into the second half with the one-goal lead but the win did not last too long in the second half before Sassuolo’s Filip Đuričić scored the equalizer in the 57th minute.
After the equalizer, Roma found it difficult to break Sassuolo’s defense until in the additional one minute of the game before Shaarawy scored the winner.
Immediately after the winning goal, Jose Mourinho who could not hide how relieved he was ran from the bench to the touchline to celebrate the goal.
The first time Mourinho celebrated this way was in 2004 when he knocked out Manchester United from the Champions League at Old Trafford. He was the manager of Porto then.
After he repeated the celebration against Sassuolo on Sunday, Jose Mourinho apologized to Sassuolo’s coach Alessio Dionisi for celebrating so wildly.
He said: “I wasn’t 58 years old, but 10 or 12 or 14, when you start dreaming about a football career. Running as I did, I was running like a child,” said Mourinho after the 2-1 win over Sassuolo. “And I apologized to Dionisi for that.”
Afterward, Mourinho revealed that he lied that the 1000th game of his managerial career didn’t mean anything to him. He revealed that the game was very special to him and didn’t want to have a negative memory of it.
“During the week I was lying to people, telling everyone this wasn’t a special game – perhaps I was trying to convince myself as well,” he said.
“But actually it was – this game had a really special meaning for me. And I am sure I will remember it for the rest of my life because my 1000th game as a coach was this one.
“I didn’t want to lose it, and I was very scared of having that be my lasting memory of the moment. So I was lying to everyone beforehand. It was a very special feeling.
“Perhaps God decided that I didn’t deserve to have a negative memory of this particular game.”
A brilliant last-minute winner…
— AS Roma English (@ASRomaEN) September 13, 2021
A trademark Mourinho sprint…
Celebrations under the Curva…
Are you not entertained? 🐺 #ASRoma pic.twitter.com/LCicgriax8
Jose Mourinho and his 1,000 stats
Jose Mourinho is one of the most decorated football managers of recorded history. The 58-year-old Portuguese tactician started coaching professionally in 2000 when he headed Benfica for some months.
From there, he coached Porto, Chelsea, Inter Milan, Real Madrid, Manchester United, and Tottenham Hotspur, before joining Roma this summer.
In all the clubs he has coached for more than a season, Jose Mourinho has won a major title except at Tottenham Hotspur where he was sacked few days to Tottenham vs Manchester City 2021 FA Cup final.
Between 2001 and 2021, Jose Mourinho has won 25 major titles, including two UEFA Champions League, three Premier League, two Serie A, one La Liga, and two Primeira Liga.
In his 1,000 games as a football manager, Mourinho has won 637 times, drew 205 times, and suffered 257 losses.
So far this season, he has led Roma to three Serie A games and has won them all. Roma are currently topping the league table above AC Milan and Napoli with goals difference.
The boss. The project. 🟡🔴
— AS Roma English (@ASRomaEN) September 13, 2021
#ASRoma | 𝗝𝗠 | #Mourinho1000 pic.twitter.com/WOJkfOFpfJ
