CHAMPIONS LEAGUE/ FERGUSON v MOURINHO: ON THE day of the draw in December for the last 16 of the Champions League Jose Mourinho handed out champagne and cake to the assembled media at Inter Milan's training ground.
It wasn’t, he insisted, a celebration of Inter being paired with Manchester United, rather just the pre-Christmas tradition at the club.
But still, such is Mourinho’s remarkable record against Alex Ferguson – just one defeat in 12 meetings – the Immodest One, despite his proclamations, was probably less than shaken by the draw.
Ever since their first encounter, when Porto knocked United out of the Champions League five years ago this month, Mourinho has, largely, got the better of Ferguson, often outsmarting him tactically, much to the senior man’s irritation.
Ferguson refused to shake hands with his counterpart after the first leg of that tie, when two goals from Benni McCarthy (now at Blackburn) gave Porto a 2-1 win, the chief source of his rage Roy Keane’s late sending-off when the United captain mislaid the plot by needlessly “stepping” on Porto goalkeeper Vitor Baia.
Ferguson accused Baia of making a meal of the incident, and Mourinho hardly helped his mood with his post-match comments.
For those unfamiliar with Mourinho before that night they might have expected him to be deferential towards Ferguson, even in awe of his standing in the game, but: “I understand why he is a bit emotional,” he said, “he has some top players in the world and they should be doing a lot better than that.
“You would be really sad if your team gets as clearly dominated as that by an opponent who has been built on maybe 10 per cent of the budget.”
Touché! Welcome to Jose’s world.
He didn’t display much reverence, either, during the return leg in Manchester when, famously, he did a fist-pumping jig down the Old Trafford touchline when Costinha equalised for Porto in the 90th minute, the goal putting the Portuguese champions through, 3-2 on aggregate. Ferguson sat and simmered.
Little wonder, then, that when Mourinho set sail for Chelsea that summer, fireworks – in the form of renewed hostilities with Ferguson – were anticipated. True, they were plenty of sparks on occasion, not least when Mourinho accused Cristiano Ronaldo of having “no education”, but, much to the bemusement of the embedded reporters at Old Trafford and Stamford Bridge, the two became, well, almost chummy.
There was always an edge, mind, but on the surface, at least, a mutual respect.
Why?
Well, Mourinho took to showering Ferguson with acclaim and addressing him as “boss”, to the point where the pair brought gifts of bottles of wine to each other that they would share post-match. The real source, though, of this apparent bonding between the erstwhile foes was their common loathing of Arsène Wenger.
“They say he’s an intelligent man, right? Speaks five languages! I’ve got a 15-year-old boy from the Ivory Coast who speaks five languages,” Ferguson once said of the Arsenal manager, putting some flesh on the bones of the theory that he was embittered by the constant swooning about his rival being suave, sophisticated, smart and articulate.
Enter Mourinho. Ferguson had called Wenger many things, but never a voyeur. He had an ally, then, in his war with north London.
“I like Jose,” he said in 2005, “I think he sees himself as the young gunslinger who has come into town to challenge the sheriff who has been around for a while.
“He has a great sense of humour and there is a devilish wit about him. Don’t believe everything you read about mind games. We get on.”
And, even in the heat of the Chelsea versus Manchester United rivalry, Mourinho managed to make Ferguson smile. When the Scot insisted that Roman Abramovich’s money would not guarantee the club success, Mourinho responded in style.
“Ferguson is right,” he said. “money does not guarantee success. I showed that last season when my Porto team beat United.” 1-0 to Mourinho, even Ferguson conceded.
There were five more victories for Mourinho, on the field, during his Chelsea reign, his team beating United three times in his first season (twice in the league and once in the League Cup).
They won two successive Premier League titles, Mourinho completing his collection of English trophies in May 2007 when Didier Drogba’s goal decided the FA Cup final against United.
In those 12 meetings Ferguson has only bettered Mourinho once (excluding the victory on penalties in the 2007 Community Shield), and even then the win was small consolation, merely narrowing Chelsea’s lead over United in the league to 10 points – they went on to take the title by eight.
“He’s one of the best coaches in the world, amazing,” said Ferguson, when asked about his old nemesis on Saturday. Mourinho has been similarly eulogising Ferguson in the build-up to the game.
Best pals?
Not quite.
Mutual respect?
It would seem so.
But, in parts 13 and 14 of the contest, the old sheriff is due a triumph over the young gunslinger. We’ll see.
Mourinho v Ferguson Past encounters
2003-04Champions League Porto 2, Manchester United 1
Champions League Manchester United 1, Porto 1
2004-05Premier League Chelsea 1, Manchester United 0
League Cup Chelsea 0, Manchester United 0
League Cup Manchester United 1, Chelsea 2
Premier League Manchester United 1, Chelsea 3
2005/2006Premier League Manchester United 1, Chelsea 0
Premier League Chelsea 3, Manchester United 0
2006/2007Premier League Manchester United 1, Chelsea 1
Premier League Chelsea 0, Manchester United 0
FA Cup Final Chelsea 1, Manchester United 0
2007/2008Community Shield Chelsea 1, Manchester United 1
(United won 3-0 on penalties)
Champions League Round Two, first legs
Tomorrow
Arsenal v AS Roma
Atletico Madrid v Porto
Inter Milan v Manchester Utd
Lyon v Barcelona
Wednesday
Chelsea v Juventus
Real Madrid v Liverpool
Sporting v Bayern Munich
Villarreal v Panathinaikos
(All games start at 7.45pm Irish-time)
