Immortality. Something that seems to be an eternal chase for some in football. Others just want to be good, some want to be God. The King of Their Castle. Jose Mourinho could definitely be described as one of those figures in the history of the game. At some clubs and in some quarters, a myth, a troublemaker and a moaner could be some of the milder terms used to describe ‘The Special One’. I’m sure the fans of FC Porto and Chelsea, and maybe even those of Real Madrid, Manchester United and AS Roma might have pretty fond memories of Mourinho’s time at their helm. Maybe not Spurs fans though…
But of the teams he has led into many, MANY battles, the one that surely holds him in the highest esteem, is surely that of Inter Milan. Yes, winning the Champions League with FC Porto was remarkable, but doing it with Inter Milan, beating Chelsea, Pep Guardiola’s Barcelona, and then Bayern Munich along the way, and all to complete a remarkable TREBLE, with a team that surely nobody predicted would be European champions 12 months prior, let alone to win the lot, extraordinary. As the great football writer Patrick Barclay once said of them, Jose came in when Serie A was in one of its lowest periods ever, and built this team “that could go anywhere”.
So how did he do it? How did Jose Mourinho turn an aging Inter Milan side into not the irresistible force, but far more of ‘the immovable object’? Well…, it may have not ever happened. Between leaving Chelsea in September of 2007, and his appointment at the Giuseppe Meazza the following summer, at least 3 major positions were somewhat of a possibility to be his next destination. There was a audacious approach within 24 hours of his departure from the other side of London made by Tottenham Hotspur, as well as somewhere between talks and an offer from just down the road at the Football Association, who were looking for a top name to replace the ousted ‘Wally with the Brolly’. And then finally, the ultimate job.
I’ve always been more intrigued by the stories of the villainous characters. They often have the most fascinating backstories, the reason as to why they are how they are. That of Jose Mourinho revolves around a football club that will feature a few times as this blog goes on, as we tell the story of Inter Milan’s treble triumph. A brilliant presentation, a willingness to change his playing style to be more appeasing on the eye, but ultimately an unwillingness to compromise his personal practices in his work were the main headlines to come from talks between Mourinho, and the club he was once referred to at as “the translator”, FC Barcelona. Although, the guy they got in instead didn’t end up doing too bad either.
So as a result, on June 2nd 2008, Inter Milan officially replaced Roberto Mancini, with ‘The Special One’.
Mourinho signed a 3 year deal, bringing with him most of his trusted lieutenants as well as his signature confidence and authority… he spoke solely in Italian in his introductory presser, claiming to have learnt the language in “3 weeks”. He made just three signings to begin his time in Italy: winger Mancini (oh the irony…), Ricardo Quaresma, and finally Ghanaian midfielder Sulley Muntari, who would become one of Mourinho’s warrior-like generals on the field.
As well as good footballers of course, a successful manager needs a strong support staff, and Mourinho is no different. The 4 men who were the backbone of Inter Milan at this time were Giuseppe Baresi (a former Inter Milan player of 16 years who’s brother wasn’t half bad either, still in 2024 he is part of the staff), and three of Jose’s ‘generals’ from Chelsea and Porto in Andre Villas-Boas, Rui Faria and Silvino Louro.
In those 4 he had a club man, a reliable goalkeeping coach in Louro, a right-hand man in Faria and finally Villas-Boas who was then seen as almost a ‘Mourinho in training’, before he too went on his own part-way in to the second season with Inter, taking up the manager’s job at Portuguese club Academica. Essentially taking his spot in the team was José Morais, who Mourinho had met during his time with Benfica in 2000. The two would work well together, doing so again three times after this…
Mourinho’s first season at Inter saw… not much difference from the previous years. Serie A and Italian football was still just a couple of years out from the match fixing scandal that rocked the whole dynamic of the country’s football system. Inter were the top dogs, Mourinho made them stay there. Inter lost just 4 games in the league in 08/09, with two of those coming in games 33 and 37 of the 38 league game season. They finished 10 points clear, champions again.
The biggest disappointment though for Inter, came in Europe. Having flattered to deceive at best in recent years of the Champions League, plus having to see city rivals AC Milan win the competition twice in the last 6 seasons (for the record, at this point Inter had won European club football’s top prize twice in their history… both of those coming in the 1960s). In 2008-09, Inter finished second in a group that contained… Panathinaikos… Werder Bremen… and Cypriot side Anorthosis Famagusta… In the last 16, United finally faced a side on their level, and got swept aside…
So ahead of season 2 of Mourinho’s Italian job, it was clear for Inter to be considered a top, top side, things had to change. They had to level up. And so they embarked on a quite remarkable transfer window in the summer of 2009.
In one of the most extraordinary transfers in modern times, two of the game’s biggest clubs essentially ‘swapped’ their star strikers. With the deal heavily favored one way… in my view anyway…
Pep Guardiola got his wish and finally was ridded of Samuel Eto’o, whilst Mourinho had to part with his beloved Swede. But this wasn’t just a straight swap, as Barcelona sent to their Italian counterparts the sum of around £40 million, plus their prolific Cameroonian forward, in exchange for the services of Zlatan… and well… you know how that went for all involved… But aside from the headline story, Inter had a number of other high profile incomings and outgoings in their playing squad; Adriano, Crespo, Figo, Maxwell, Burdisso and of course Ibrahimovic departed. And in came Milito, Thiago Motta, Lucio and Sneijder as well as the severely underrated Goran Pandev in a rare winter transfer window gem. All joined the Nerazzurri alongside Eto’o, and suddenly Inter’s squad was quite the force. But could Mourinho once again transform a good team into a great?
The season didn’t exactly get off to a flying start, as Inter travelled to Beijing, only to lose in the Supercoppa Italiana match 2-1 against Lazio. And their defense of the Scudetto saw them stutter to a draw at home to Bari. But they soon found their feet, in the ultimate fashion…
From there, Inter went about things in a typical Mourinho manner… efficient but pragmatic, and crucially, they got results! In the Champions League group stage, Inter found themselves up against Barcelona, Rubin Kazan and Dynamo Kyiv and finished in 2nd place with 2 wins, 3 draws and 1 loss. Domestically, a 1-0 win against Livorno set them up for a Coppa Italia quarter final against rivals Juventus in the new year.
In their quest for another Scudetto, Inter performed relatively strong in the first half of the season, with just 2 losses (coming against Sampdoria and Juventus) meaning that Jose’s team were in a prime spot to charge towards another league title… and beyond… but with the turn of the year came the winter transfer window, and for Inter, one diminutive yet influential incoming added that extra grit that Mourinho surely relished having at his disposal in his team…
Goran Pandev signed a 4 and a half year deal with Inter in January of 2010, following a contract dispute with former club Lazio. He thus realized a dream, returning to the club he signed for as an 18 year old, but failed to make a pro appearance for them. The industrious forward made an almost immediate impact, proving to be effective on the pitch as well as being a productive character for the Internazionale dressing room. Two days after signing, his debut came in a 1-0 win over Chievo, where he assisted Mario Balotelli’s winning goal, before further impacting a last-gasp win against Siena, again providing an assist (this time for Walter Samuel). He opened his scoring account himself for Inter against Bari, before maybe his finest performance in the blue and black against (of all teams), A.C. Milan. In the final week of January 2010, Inter Milan really set down their marker as the team to beat in Italian football, as within 4 days they recorded back-to-back wins against their two biggest rivals. Beginning with a quite chaotic Derby della Madonnina.
Admittedly, I’m not quite sure what Dida was doing leaving that much of his goal open for Pandev to spray that free kick in the back of the net, but I also can’t say it wasn’t a wonderful goal, and the assist for the first goal too… what a performance this was by the Macedonian! . And that’s the thing about this Inter team, yes they could fight, but they could play too. Wesley Sneijder sent off less than a third of the way through the game, Lucio sent off in added time, Julio Cesar SAVING the resulting penalty from Ronaldinho, Milan having 67% possession as well as 11 corners to Inter’s 2, Mourinho had done it AGAIN in a crucial match (a 6-0 aggregate score against Milan this season for the record). And a few days later, they did it again, with Lucio scoring in minute 72, and Balotelli a minute from time completing a comeback win to knock Juventus out of the Coppa Italia and put Inter into the semi finals. When it comes to the crunch, this Inter team were showing they had the character to perform.
February 2010 was a near perfect month for Inter. Domestically they took the advantage in their Coppa semi-final tie with Fiorentina, after a Gabriel Milito (more on him soon) goal gave them a 1-0 first leg win. In the league, they began and ended the month with wins, sandwiching two 0-0 draws that saw them complete an unbeaten month. But their biggest impact came on the biggest stage, as their first leg Last 16 Champions League tie presented Mourinho with a chance to get some revenge… or more, to stare longingly across the street at a former lover…
Mourinho himself was at one time, just a side piece to the main show. Even the great Sir Bobby Robson openly admitted he never saw him becoming a great. And when he signed for Inter, many could of said similar of Argentine striker Gabriel Milito. But it was the Inter number 22 who gave Inter almost an immediate advantage in the 3rd minute at the San Siro. And of course, previously it would’ve been Chelsea who Mourinho guided to hold on to a win after an early goal, but against his former club it was never really in doubt that Jose would have the last laugh here. Chelsea were good, Inter were better.
Aside from Ashley Cole missing, a pretty much full strength Chelsea were second best for a lot of the match, but managed to find an equaliser through Salomon Kalou. But it proved to only be a brief moment of life from the visitors, who were all but beaten once Esteban Cambiasso smashed Inter into the lead once again a few minutes later. Advantage Inter ahead of ‘The return of the King’ to Stamford Bridge a few weeks later.
After beating Chelsea, and squeezing past Udinese 3-2 came somewhat of a stumble from Inter, as they prepared for their trip to London with a 0-0 draw at home to Genoa, and a shock 3-1 defeat away to Catania. And with Chelsea starting to hit top form in the Premier League, could Carlo Ancelotti get some revenge of his own, and the former A.C. Milan manager mastermind another big European night?
It must have been tough for Ancelotti, a great of the game having a pretty good start to life as the Chelsea manager himself, to see his fans so in love with the opposing coach, but then again, the football man Don Carlo is, I’m sure he understood it. The King was here again.
The match itself was the sort of away European match that Jose loves. It was brutal, to watch as much as play in. The home side had 57% of the ball, and pretty much the same amount of chances. But again much like the home leg, it wasn’t really in doubt who would get the win here. 4 yellow cards per side showed the temperature of the match, and this was only added to when Didier Drogba’s frustrations got the better of him once again in the Champions League, as he was sent off for a second yellow card, after a clash with Thiago Motta. 2008 he was sent off in the final, 2009 it was ‘a fucking disgrace’, and now in 2010 here, it ends in tears for Drogba and Chelsea’s Champions League hopes. Instead the night began to the African forward of the visiting team, as Cameroonian Samuel Eto’o scored the decisive goal. Inter through 3-1 on aggregate, and although the celebrations outwardly from Mourinho were minimal, inside he must have been beaming that he had got one over his former side. On Inter Milan went into the Quarter Finals.
Inter again kind of showed a common theme during this next period. They did what they needed to, WHEN they needed to. March ended with a draw, a win and then a loss in 3 league matches, before another Gabriel Milito strike saw them take charge of their Quarter Final Champions League clash with CSKA. They were the better team sure, but again Mourinho took no risks, and made sure his team got the result that was needed.
Bizarrely, the second leg of the Coppa Italia semi final was played over two months after the first, but apparently not much had changed between the two sides, as once again Inter beat Fiorentina 1-0 to ultimately advance to the final. There they would come up against their top challenger of the season, the Romans. Under one of their own in Claudio Ranieri, and with the likes of Daniele De Rossi and Francesco Totti on the pitch, they proving to put up quite the fight in trying to wrestle Italian football away from the black and blue side of Milan. But in this era, Mourinho in a cup final, with the odds stacked against him (the final was being played IN the Stadio Olimpico by the way)… it was a chance for ‘The Special One’ to do one of his masterclass jobs… 6 minutes before half time, that man Gabriel Milito struck. 1-0 they won, because of course they did. 1 down. 2 to go.
In the league Roma were pushing Inter HARD, especially after a 2-1 win over the champions at the Stadio Olimpico (just the 7 yellow cards for the visitors in that game, Mourinho’s side taking defeat in classic good fashion then…). Clearly, Inter would need to be almost perfect to retain their Serie A title. And well… they pretty much were… 3 wins and a draw in April of 2010, followed by a 2-0 win away to Lazio meant that going into the final match of the season, Inter held a 2 point lead over their Roman challengers. All they would need to do is match Roma’s result to be champions again… Roma were away to Chievo, and were 2-0 up before half time in their game… Inter though, went into the break still goalless in their match away to Siena. With just one half left of the league season, it was AS Roma and Claudio Ranieri who would rule Italian football and take home the Scudetto… But it was proven once again, that the best players step up when most needed. And sometimes, it is simply not someone’s time, and the time of someone else. This era was for Jose Mourinho, and for the man nobody expected much of anything from at the ELITE level, Gabriel Milito.
Minute 57, Milito. Inter win 1-0. Champions again.
But what about the big one? Old big ears? The cup that Mourinho once said was his? A trophy Inter had won just twice in their history, and that was over 40 years prior? Inter safely made their way into the semi finals curtesy of a 1-0 (of course) win against CSKA, 2-0 aggregate win. No issues against an inferior opponent, but in the next stage, not so much. As once again, the immovable object of Inter, would take on the all-conquering irresistible force of Pep Guardiola’s Champions League holders, and Jose’s mortal footballing enemy, Barcelona.
Sometimes, things happen that cannot be expected to. A volcano erupting in Iceland causing mass chaos to travel plans all over the continent, could very reasonably be categorised as one of those things, that simply cannot be reasonably prepared for or avoided. I am sure many people far more educated than me could explain WHY this happened. Or how rare this was, but it would’ve been no consolation to Guardiola’s squad of superstars. They, before their biggest match of the season, had to endure a FOURTEEN HOUR coach journey to arrive at San Siro to take on Mourinho’s men. On the pitch though, despite complaints for the Catalans about the length of the grass, or the officiating of the match, they had little to no answer to the cage that their opposition trapped them in. Even with Pedro’s goal giving them the lead just 19 minutes in, Inter responded. And they didn’t just take a lead to the Camp Nou for the second leg, they took a lead and a TWO goal margin! Goals from Sneidjer, Maicon, and you know who…
The second leg, I still remember watching this match clear as day over 14 years later, was extraordinary. One of the most engrossing matches I’ve ever watched. A true tale of the beauty and the beast in terms of football styles and mentality. Mourinho said before the game, almost as if he had already telegraphed how it would all unfold…
“We have a dream to play the Champions League Final. For Barcelona it’s not a dream, It’s an obsession. There is a difference between a dream and an obsession. A dream is more pure than an obsession, a dream is about, Pride. For them, it’s an obsession, and the obsession is called ‘Madrid and Santiago Bernabeu’.
Mourinho making reference to the fact that not only is the prize on offer a spot in the Champions League Final, but that it will be played at the home of Barcelona’s great rivals Real Madrid. Which would in the end become somewhat of an irony, but not for the reason Guardiola’s men hoped for. Here though, Mourinho trying to add the pressure to a team even though 2 goals down, were expected to go through. This was the defending European champions after all, playing football in a style that seemed out of this world. But Jose in one statement ramped up the pressure. This was about more than football, Mourinho was reminding Barcelona at how they wouldn’t just have a chance to defend the Champions League trophy, but the opportunity to do so on enemy territory. But that this innate desire was overpowering, and that the desire to reach the final of HIS team was a much more beautiful one. They, even with a 2 goal lead, were the underdogs who could only ‘dream’ of the final in Madrid.
It was time. The match that Jose Mourinho called ‘my most beautiful defeat’.
Doesn’t matter how, in the end to the victor goes the spoils. And onto the final Inter and Jose went.
This was probably even more of a Mourinho team than Porto or Chelsea. They were organised, ruthless, but they could play and they could win. An all star team that played with the humility of underdogs, they did WHATEVER was needed to win. Julio Cesar, the great Javier Zanetti, Lucio, Water Samuel, Maicon, the Leicester legend Esteban Cambiasso (who I share a birthday with by the way), Thiago Motta, Wesley Sneijder (ROBBED of the 2010 Balon d’Or by the way), Goran Pandev, Samuel Eto’o, Gabriel Milito (if not Sneijder, Milito wasn’t a bad shout for the golden ball that year either)… the support cast too like Chivu, Muntari, Toldo, Materazzi, even a young Mario Balotelli. All of them played for the badge on the front over the name on the back. They played how the coach wanted. A coach at the peak of his powers. And the combination proved for a truly unstoppable force, as well as an immovable object.
I will end the blog on this extraordinary period with the video that inspired it. The 2012 documentary that ITV did on Jose is one of the best I’ve ever seen. I still watch it to this day, but the part on Jose’s spell at Inter is by far the highlight to me. The words spoken, the editing, and the wonderful soundtrack make this one of the best bits of football media produced. It makes me quite emotional actually. Maybe by the time I leave Inter Milan on my Football Manager game, I can get someone to make a similar montage for me? If only… I should also point you to the fantastic book on Jose by Patrick Barclay. It’s probably the only book I have ever read 5 times. https://www.amazon.co.uk/Mourinho-Further-Anatomy-Patrick-Barclay/dp/1409142604 – FYI.
Anyway, get comfy, and enjoy this.
Jose had done it. He’d created a team that really could go anywhere. Just as he once went to England as the manager of the European Champions, he would go to Spain as the same.
The Special One. And on two occasions, the King of Europe.
Josh.