“It’s the one that hurt me most” – Mourinho reflects on turning down Portugal before Roma exit
José Mourinho has been speaking to former Manchester United defender Rio Ferdinand on his YouTube channel, covering a wide range of topics following his recent departure from AS Roma.
Mourinho left the Giallorossi in January, with his departure six months before the end of his contract surprising many, particularly given the Portuguese’s popularity with Roma fans. During his interview with Ferdinand, Mourinho revealed that he rejected an approach from the Seleção to replace Fernando Santos after the 2022 World Cup in Qatar.
“[It was the] owner’s decision and you have to respect it,” Mourinho began when asked about his sacking in Italy. “The fans are always the heart of a football club. Without them there is no football club. But there is an ownership and when they decide, you have to respect it.
“I can say it was the one that hurt me more. If you ask me why, I gave everything; I gave my heart; I even gave [up] some options that could be considered not very clever from a professional point of view. I refused great working opportunities.
“The first one was very, very hard to refuse because it was Portugal. With probably the best national team ever, three years before a World Cup. Then I had a big one from Saudi, I didn’t hide it at the time because it was really big.
“Normally I’m very pragmatic in my choices, I’m very professional in my choices. I try to always be very emotionally controlled. You could see that for example when I left other clubs after winning finals. In this case I was not pragmatic, I was emotional - I gave everything.
“So in the end, when I left, I left hurt. I have the great feeling that I gave so much happiness to the people. Because two European finals in a row doesn’t happen often, especially in a club like Roma without a big history of European success.
“I was walking in the street and the people [were saying] “take us to Dublin, take us to Dublin [for the Europa League final] and I had that 3rd European final in a row in my mind. But you have to respect. The owner is always the owner.”
By @SeanGillen9