Starting his journey in Rome with the Europa Conference League title, the Portuguese coach is showing that he can be conservative but never outdated.
Jose Mourinho burst into tears after winning the Europa Conference League with AS Roma. (Source: VOV).
When people get bored with "good guys"
“Why is Will Smith always ignored in the Hip Hop world? It’s because he’s too gentle, too pure. Meanwhile, the hip-hop world, at that time, gradually liked villains or rappers with a bit of “darkness” in them.” Those are the shares of Murs, a famous rapper and host of the Hip Hop DX channel.
Football more than 10 years ago and even now, like hip-hop - has two sides, the "dark" side and the "light" side. The "dark" side has always had the motto "winning is more important than playing", while the "light" side focuses more on a more aesthetic style of possession-based play. In each side, we have a typical representative, in the "dark" side is Jose Mourinho, and in the "light" side, it is Pep Guardiola.
The debate between “which football philosophy is timeless” has never ended between the two sides. However, it can be seen that the “dark” side always has a larger majority in the football world. Many people believe that this is not only due to the large number of fans of Man United, the team that lost to Pep Guardiola’s Barcelona not once but twice in the Champions League final, but also because of the appeal of the so-called “personality of Jose Mourinho”.
No one can deny that Jose Mourinho is a coach with a somewhat negative defensive style, a coach with a philosophy of "valuing winning over everything", however, there is one thing that attracts people to him, which is his statements, his highly "damaging" words aimed at opponents, the things that made him the most prominent person in the European press the next day. If not outstanding because of his statements, Jose Mourinho would immediately make people remember him because of his "explosive" celebrations on the field, for example, his grass-sliding celebration in the match between Real Madrid and Manchester City in the 2012-2013 Champions League, or the way he smashed water bottles in the match between Man United and Juventus in the 2018-2019 Champions League.
Despite his negative playing style, Jose Mourinho is very "enthusiastic" in his celebrations. (Source: Daily Mail).
Another thing that makes Jose Mourinho attractive to fans every time he takes the field is that the Portuguese coach knows how to "please" the fans. Like when he was at Real Madrid, Jose Mourinho always supported and protected Ultras Sur, Real Madrid's fanatic fans, even saying that "Santiago Bernabeu without them looks so empty". In response to Jose Mourinho's feelings, this fanatic group always protects him anytime, anywhere, they even attack an icon who is even older than Jose Mourinho at Santiago Bernabeu, Iker Casillas, just because at that time, Jose Mourinho had stated in the press that Iker Casillas was against him.
Another example is when he was still leading Man United, Jose Mourinho once stayed on the field to applaud the fans who came to the field that day. He even picked up a scarf that fell on the field and held it up high as a way to honor the values that Man United fans brought, even though Man United lost 3-0 to Tottenham in the match that day.
It can be said that because of this "people-oriented" personality, Jose Mourinho is always loved wherever he goes. Even the coach himself has to admit that wherever he goes, he can feel an emotional connection with the fans of the team he leads, except for one place, that is Tottenham, the team that is always considered a big mistake in the coaching career of the Portuguese coach.
In an era where everyone worships Pep Guardiola and his winning football, or what people jokingly call the “enlightenment” of European football, there will be people, like rapper Murs pointed out when talking about the American hip-hop scene, who feel disgusted with “good guys” like Pep Guardiola, who doesn’t really make an impression other than his tactical moves and innovative playing styles. In other words, Pep Guardiola is not as “human” as Jose Mourinho.
The European football press, despite being constantly criticized by Jose Mourinho for his excessive headlines, will certainly be the ones who love him the most. Because every time Jose Mourinho or his team fails, or every time Jose Mourinho enters the press conference room, this “villain” will immediately create many headlines, memorable images in the press conference room, things that can help their newspapers sell like hotcakes the next day.
When the world is full of “good guys” like Pep Guardiola, people will surely look for “villains” like Jose Mourinho. (Source: The Sun).
Conservative maybe, but never out of date
The day Jose Mourinho moved to the Olimpico, people started talking about the decline of the Portuguese coach. Many people thought that he could not choose any other team but Roma, others thought that for a coach past his prime like Jose Mourinho, choosing AS Roma, a team that had just changed ownership a few years ago and was still shaping its style of play, was a completely reasonable decision.
Some people say it, others say it, Jose Mourinho only does one thing, which is to bring AS Roma forward, helping the "Wolves" win the European title for the first time in the 2021-2022 season, but above all, he still does what fans and the Italian press have long been waiting for: respond harshly to the comments and statements of opponents and Italian journalists, who are as good at "pressing in the press conference" as their colleagues in the "Foggy Land".
Not only does Jose Mourinho “attack” domestic journalists, he also “attacks” foreign journalists. A typical example of this is when a Dutch journalist complained about his hometown team, Feyenoord, losing to Jose Mourinho’s AS Roma in the UEFA Europa Conference League final last season, the Portuguese coach immediately handed the journalist a keychain with the UEFA Europa Conferenece League trophy and said: “Here, your Conference League title”.
Now that Jose Mourinho has successfully led AS Roma to their second European Cup final, people are starting to talk less about why AS Roma chose Jose Mourinho, but that still doesn't stop the question from being asked: "Why is Jose Mourinho, a player whose playing style is considered outdated, always the one that teams "choose to trust" in difficult times?"
Perhaps the person who answered this question most accurately is journalist Jonathan Wilson. Specifically, in his article, this journalist pointed out 3 reasons why Jose Mourinho is always the choice of football teams. First, in the period when Pep Guardiola's playing style is dominating, having someone who can successfully counter teams with similar playing styles will be very valuable for that team. Next, Jonathan Wilson pointed out that in the current era of "money" football, Jose Mourinho is a reminder of football from 2008 to 2015, the period when every match was a real battle, not just a boring tactical battle like today. And in such battles, Jose Mourinho is always the center of attention.
When we look at Jose Mourinho, we see a bygone era of football. (Source: The Sportman).
There is another thing that Jonathan Wilson probably forgot to mention in his article, which is that the “Special One” this season always knows how to take advantage of what he has in hand. For example, in the first leg against Bayer Leverkusen in the semi-finals of the UEFA Europa League this season, despite not having the best squad on the field, even having to use a 21-year-old Edoardo Bove, he still successfully defeated his former student with a goal scored by the very boy he “chosen to entrust”. As for the second leg, as we know, it was a match where the Special One applied his so-called “dark art of defense” to defeat Bayer Leverkusen.
The European press will certainly spend a lot of ink talking about Jose Mourinho's "negative" semi-final. For now, we will wait and see how the "Special One" will overcome Sevilla, considered a "monster" in the UEFA Europa League, a team that defeated both Man United and Inter Milan in the 2019-2020 season, a team that has won the second most prestigious tournament in Europe 6 times - an achievement that is probably unprecedented in this playground.
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