Eight of Manchester United boss Jose Mourinho’s most explosive player bust-ups, including Diego Costa and Eden Hazard… and the one star who got the better of him
LUKE SHAW may be well and truly off Jose Mourinho's Christmas card list after his performance against Watford.
Manchester United went down 3-1 against the Hornets on Sunday, with England left-back Shaw one of the standout performers... And not in a good way.
Now one poor game surely doesn't justify being frozen out altogether, does it?
Well if your name is Mr Mourinho, you'd better believe it.
After the Watford slump, on Shaw, the Special One said: "We made individual mistakes, Amrabat had the ball and our left-back was more than 25 metres away, yet rather than go to the player and challenge him, he waited."
The former Southampton man was promptly substituted...
On top of that, following United's derby day defeat to Manchester City, Mourinho claimed: "I am disgusted by the actions of several players in the first half. I don't want to talk about them."
Two men have failed to play since: Jesse Lingard and Henrikh Mkhitaryan... Coincidence?
In light of this, SunSport runs down some of the Portuguese boss' biggest player bust-ups, whose spirits he broke... And the one star who got the better of him.
ADRIAN MUTU
THE Romanian forward was one of the marquee signings after Roman Abramovich injected a wad or three of cash into the Blues.
But Mutu lasted just two games under Mourinho after failing to impress.
The Special One remarked after that second game: "His career is finished."
And that was the end of his Chelsea days, just like that.
MARIO BALOTELLI
THE former Liverpool, AC Milan and Manchester City striker has ruffled a few feathers during his career, it's fair to say.
It was no different under Mourinho during their time at Inter Milan together, either.
The Portuguese chief became instantly annoyed by Balotelli's attitude and he was dropped from Mourinho's first three squads.
While they did go on to paper over the cracks in their relationship, they were hardly best buds.
IKER CASILLAS
MANY consider Casillas to be one of the greatest goalkeepers of his generation, if not of all time.
But Jose, though...
In 2012, when leading Real Madrid away to Malaga, Mourinho dropped the Spaniard in favour of Antonio Adan, much to an outcry from fans and local media alike.
On Casillas, the Special One scoffed: "Adan is better."
Later, Jose moved to sign Diego Lopez claiming he was in need of a better No1.
He claimed: "I like more Diego Lopez more, it's that simple."
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PEPE
IN fact, the Real players were so perturbed by the treatment of their captain Casillas, the outspoken, big-tackling Pepe headed the charge against Mourinho.
Jose's compatriot claimed: "Casillas deserves more respect."
And there was no coming back from that... Pepe was frozen out in favour of a young Raphael Varane, with Mourinho claiming the feud had nothing to do with it.
He said: "His problem is called Varane. It must be frustrating for a man of 31 years to have lost their place to a boy of 19..."
Of course that's all it is, Jose.
JUAN MATA
MOURINHO froze out Mata at Chelsea... Hard.
In fact, when Jose took over at Man United, people were betting their mortgages on the Spaniard being sold.
During their Stamford Bridge days, Mata was truly left with the Blues as he was a perennial bench-warmer.
And as we all know, he'll probably only get the one shot at Old Trafford, too...
EDEN HAZARD
IT'S fair to say Chelsea struggled a bit in the 2015-16 season, particularly at the start of the campaign under Mourinho.
It was a truly team effort, with boss and players struggling mightily... With Hazard - fresh off his world-beating efforts of 2014-15 - one of the key under-performers.
And the Belgian copped the flak from Jose too, with the boss - having just dropped him - saying: "Hazard and I have different concepts of the No10.
"For me the No10 must do many things with the ball and without the ball."
DIEGO COSTA
WITH his days at Chelsea well and truly numbered, Mourinho dropped Costa to the bench.
When asked why, he simply jibed: "He's privileged, he's the last one to be benched this season."
I don't know about you, but I don't think Costa is a man to take his dropping lightly...
BASTIAN SCHWEINSTEIGER
ANOTHER United star already to add to Lingard, Mkhitaryan and Shaw... This time it's his first Old Trafford bust-up: Schweinsteiger.
Almost immediately after arriving at Carrington, Mourinho revealed the German ace would not feature in his plans, being shipped off to the reserves.
With the former Bayern Munich star stubbornly digging his heels in, Jose said: "He has decided to stay but is unlikely to play.
Basti will almost certainly be left to rot in the reserves until his contract expires.
And the one who got the better of him... KEVIN DE BRUYNE
NOW, De Bruyne is arguably one of the few world-class players in the Premier League... But even he is not immune to the swinging axe of Mr Mourinho.
Back in the Belgian's Chelsea days he had one sub-par outing against Swindon in the League Cup, was benched until the next transfer window and sold to Wolfsburg.
I'm sure Mourinho would take De Bruyne back in a heartbeat now though... So, KDB 1 Jose 0.