Portuguese coach José Mourinho said this Wednesday that he has no invitations to coach Portuguese football clubs, but assured that he intends to return to active duty soon.
“I want to train, it’s a fundamental part of my life. Without training, there is no happiness. Where? At any club that has a good training center. But I didn’t have any invitations from Portuguese clubs”, said the coach, on the sidelines of a tribute promoted by Rio Ave to the team that, in 1984, reached the final of the Portuguese Cup, coached by Félix Mourinho, José Mourinho’s father.
The coach, who has been without a club since leaving command of Italian side Roma in January this year, said he still has no projects and acknowledged that there is an expectation about his next challenge.
“Whatever has to happen will happen. I know the weight of my story. That even when I coach teams that aren’t cut out to win, people expect me to always win. In the last two seasons I played in two European finals and I want to play more”, he said.
Asked if the fact that André Villas-Boas is now the president of FC Porto could provide the desire to coach Benfica, José Mourinho felt uncomfortable.
“Don’t ask me questions like that. I don’t walk around football driven by these feelings. Don’t ask me questions about clubs that have a coach. I have always remained apart from any unethical behavior”, said the coach, who has already coached the ‘eagles’.
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The coach also spoke about the elections at FC Porto, but preferred to maintain a distance, although he believed in André Villas-Boas’ competence.
“We haven’t worked together for 15 years and, in 15 years, people change a lot, for better and for worse. He prepared himself for this challenge in his life and, if he applied, it is because he himself feels capable of it. Such is the most important thing, not what people think of him,” he stated.
The coach said “he is in the history of FC Porto as a coach and not as an associate”, preferring not to comment on Pinto da Costa’s electoral defeat.
“I stayed away from the elections and will continue to stay out of the club’s current affairs. Obviously it is an important club in my history, but who am I to say anything more than history says about president Pinto da Costa. As for Villas-Boas, I lived nearby for five or six years and obviously I can’t say anything negative about him”, he added.
José Mourinho was one of the guests at the celebrations promoted by Rio Ave to mark 40 years since the club’s team reached the Portuguese Cup final for the first time, being coached by his father, Félix Mourinho, in a game in which the village- condenses lost to FC Porto 4-1.
“I experienced it all here before going to college and you can imagine that, at 18, it was a year full of memories. My father is an inspiration. It was always difficult to carry the weight of being the son of who he was, due to the human dimension of someone who as a man bordered on perfection. It’s a weight that I carry with pride”, concluded the coach.
Football coach José Mourinho today included Portugal among the three favorite teams to win the European Championship, which will be held this year in Germany.
“For me, Portugal, France and England are the three strongest teams. There may be surprises, but, looking at the quality of the players, they have everything to win”, said the coach.
The 61-year-old coach, who has been without a club since leaving command of Italian side Roma in January, confessed to having been invited to guide the national team and did not rule out the possibility.
“I had the opportunity to coach the national team, and it was a very real possibility. But now, we are at the Euros with a coach who has done a great job, with a great generation of players and I want everything to go very well, which is to win. If he wins, he will continue and go until the next World Cup. If it has to happen, it will happen someday,” said José Mourinho.
The coach also commented on the alleged interest of English clubs in Sporting’s coach, Rúben Amorim: “I like him as a person and coach. I think he has the conditions to train in any league and club. But he’s in a good league and a big club. The decision is his and the clubs that want him. What is clear is that I like the person and the coach”.