Manchester United boss Jose Mourinho admits he can’t stop Chelsea fans from hating him ahead of FA Cup final
Blues fans chanted 'Judas' at the Portuguese boss when two clubs clashed last season
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JOSE MOURINHO admits there is nothing he can do to stop the Chelsea fans from hating him.
He won three Premier League titles in charge at Stamford Bridge but the relationship soured when they chanted ‘Judas’ at the Manchester United boss last season.
Mourinho, preparing to face his former club at Wembley, said: “If they hate me, if they don’t respect me, then I cannot control it.
“There will not be any negativity from me about them, not one word.
“The only thing I say in relation to Chelsea is that since my first day in 2004 until my last day — when I was sacked a couple of years ago — they were with me unconditionally.
“They supported me every day, they supported me very much.
“And even when I was sacked in 2007, I will never forget because they did what great supporters do and they supported me unconditionally.
“When we played at home in the Champions League against Dynamo Kiev, people were talking about me being sacked.
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“I could hear the whole stadium singing my name, even though the results were not good.
“This I will not forget because they were just phenomenal.”
Mourinho is sweating on the fitness of star striker Romelu Lukaku ahead of the FA Cup final.
But he has already made a big call on his goalkeeper.
Mourinho plumped for No 2 Sergio Romero in the earlier rounds.
But No 1 David De Gea — who played in the semi-final win against Tottenham at Wembley — will also start this evening’s final.
Yesterday, as he started to wind himself up for the final from United’s Hertfordshire hideaway, he was in the mood for more.
Mourinho said: “I still don’t understand these words ‘entertaining’ — is 6-0 entertaining? I don’t think so.
“I think entertaining is having emotions to the end, an open result, when everybody is on their seats until the end.
“Are both dugouts nervous and tense with the unpredictability of the result? That for me as a football lover, not a manager, is entertaining.
“I think the final is going to be entertaining.”
Pull the other one.
If anyone thinks a 0-0 after 90 minutes, 0-0 after 120 minutes and then into a penalty shootout is entertaining, good luck to them.
This will not be Tottenham 3 Manchester City 2, a Coventry 3 Tottenham 2, a Manchester United 3 Crystal Palace 3.
There is every chance, in a game as tight as this, with so much at stake for these two managers, that they will settle for pens.
The Special One is happy to win ugly.
But despite his increasingly dour demeanour, Mourinho says he is a “funny guy” — but only when the cameras are not around.
The Portuguese is known for his ruthless nature and intense press conferences — but he has revealed he is a real joker with those that know him well.
He said: “When my family are with me they only see me laughing. Of course I’m different at home.
“My friends think I am a funny guy — they really enjoy me — they and my family know what I am.
“Football for me is not a joke. People see me on the touchline or on the bench. Sometimes I have a smile but I am working.
“I don’t enjoy press conferences. So if I don’t enjoy it, it’s hard to smile.
“People don’t know me and I don’t want people to know me.
“I want people to see me as a football manager and leave my private life to myself and the ones I love.”
