As is becoming increasingly common with any game Jose Mourinho is involved in, this game’s main attraction is about the managers. Mourinho, then manager of Chelsea, famously had a fallout with Rafa Benitez who held sway at Liverpool in those days. It was about the “goal that was not”. It will be recalled that on 3rd May, 2005 Luis Garcia of Liverpool scored a controversial goal which knocked Chelsea out of the Champions League semi-finals.
Liverpool went on to win the Champions League that season and Mourinho never forgot nor forgave. He had a lot to say about that and Rafa Benitez is not a shy person as well, so both managers went for it. The enmity between the two amigos since then seems to have no end to it. Matters are not actually helped with the fact that Benitez seems to be getting employed at clubs that Mourinho has fallen out with. Chelsea, Inter Milan and Real Madrid.
On each occasion, both managers don’t miss the chance to have a go at each other. When Benitez replaced Mourinho at Inter Milan, his first words were that he would win more trophies than Jose who left after just winning the treble. When Mourinho returned to Chelsea for his second term, he replaced Benitez and one of the few words he said were that he did not want his players to believe winning the Europa Cup was special. He said he wants his players to know they are way better than Europa Cup. Yes, that’s right, Benitez had just led Chelsea to win the Europa Cup.
The war of words was not limited to the two gentlemen. In 2015, Montserrat Seara, Benitez’s wife was quoted as saying her husband had spent much of his career tidying up the mess of Mourinho. Jose who thrives on such controversies, did not take the remark too kindly.
He responded: “The lady is a bit confused, with all respect. She is confused because her husband went to Chelsea to replace Roberto di Matteo and he went to Real Madrid to replace Carlo Ancelotti.” Jose pointed out that the only club where Rafa replaced him was at Inter Milan “where in six months he destroyed the best club in Europe.”
“If she takes care of her husband’s diet, she will not have any time to talk about me,” Mourinho concluded.
Mind games play big roles in modern day football. If a manager has bad blood with his rival, the way he handles himself and the issues will affect his players’ preparation. If a manager is all moody and flustered, this will transfer to his players. But if a manager is confident and focused, his players too will be confident and focused going into games. After a very healthy start, you will notice that Manchester United are now on shaky ground, the swagger seems to have gone out of their play. That can be traced back to their manager. Jose Mourinho made a wrong call by going defensive against a Liverpool team that was there to be taken. The British media rightly condemned him for this. To make matters worse, the same press was singing Pep Guardiola’s praises to the high heavens.
If you have studied Mourinho over the years, you will notice that he will be tearing his hair out now. He always likes to be the main attraction. The NEWS. Whenever there is a new top dog in town and Mourinho is reduced to play second fiddle, he loses his head and he loses interest. That is when he starts making mistakes, that is when he starts to pick up fights with the least deserving people, that is when he inches his fingers towards the self-destruct button. Manchester United may win this game against Newcastle but if their manager does not get a grip, they may end up not being in the top four when the season ends. Before the Liverpool game, they were on level points with Man City, now they are a solid eight points behind their city rivals. If they lose to Newcastle and Spurs beat Arsenal, they will end up being three points behind the North London club and move down to third place. Actually, by the end of this weekend, if care is not taken, Manchester United may move from second position to fourth, if they lose and both Spurs and Chelsea win.
