Mourinho revels in ‘difficult situations’

DOHA: Known for controversial outbursts that have often rankled fans and rival teams, Real Madrid coach Jose Mourinho yesterday said he enjoyed dealing with ‘difficult situations’ when he is busy managing a football club.

“There are many, difficult situations involving me with rival coaches, press and it is hard to point out one particular situation. I love the difficult situations. I enjoy the challenge of facing difficult situations,” Mourinho said during his short visit to Aspire Academy yesterday.

“There is no fun in life if there were no difficult situations, and difficult situations make the coaching job interesting,” added Mourinho, who is in Doha at the invitation of Al Jazeera Sports Channel.

“Coaching is a life full of pressure. But all of us, including my coaching staff, enjoy life in the fast lane. You have to enjoy it, otherwise, there is no fun doing it,” said ‘The Special One’, a self-proclaimed title which was later taken up by the British media.

Reflecting back on his 11-year-old coaching career, Mourinho said coaches who can soak and absorb the pressure have been able to sustain themselves at the top level for many years, while others simply fade away from the top tier of football coaching.

“You will find some football coaches who excel at the top clubs for three-four years and thereafter they are nowhere on the top. They cannot maintain the consistency and prefer to move to the second division where there is less pressure on them,” he said.

For the former Chelsea coach, the thrills of changing jobs and taking up new challenges in different countries keeps him on his toes.

“If there was no fun and challenges in coaching, we wouldn’t have changed clubs, changed cultures and changed countries to take up the coaching job. I love every moment of it,” said the 48-year-old who started his coaching career in 2000 with Portuguese club Benefica.

He has also coached Unia de Leira and Porto, both of Portugal. At Porto he achieved the treble, winning the Primeira Liga, Taça de Portugal, and UEFA Cup in 2003.

He moved to Chelsea in 2004 and remained at the helm for three years. He won two consecutive English Premier League (EPL) titles in 2005 and 2006. His victories at Chelsea and Porto established him as one of the world’s top football managers.

In 2008, he took up the job at Inter Milan and remained with them for two seasons, culminating his brief stint with the Champions League title in 2010.

Interacting with a group of coaches at Aspire Academy, Mourinho told them coaching is a ‘difficult and challenging job’.

“Although coaching course is a base to start your football career, it should not be the end of the learning process. You have to constantly think and analyse your job. It is important to analyse what you have done in training. If you spend one hour training then the next one hour should be spent on analysing what you have done during the training,” Mourinho advised them.

Mourinho believes a team is a reflection of the coach.

“A team must reflect what the coach wants. A team reflects the image of the coach. A team reflects the style of play and philosophy of that particular coach. For me, a team is the image of the coach and what the coach wants to do with his team,” he said.

“My basic philosophy has been the same throughout my coaching career but what I did with Chelsea has changed a little bit in what I am doing at Real Madrid. If I go to my training books, I will find what I did four years back is different from what I am doing at Real Madrid,” said Mourinho, who signed a four-year contract with Spanish giants in 2010.

To a question, Mourinho said he would be happy to come back to Qatar and help the coaches.

“I am happy to be here, interacting with coaches like you. If time permits I will love to come here and talk with you again. This is a thing (meeting coaches) which gives me real pleasure. We all can improve, sharing experiences in the field. Nevertheless, some people think we are from Europe we know everything, that is not the case,” said Mourinho.

THE PENINSULA