LONDON: Jose Mourinho shrugged off Manchester United’s shock Champions League defeat over Sevilla claiming European disappointment is nothing new for the English giants.
Mourinho’s men were big favorites to progress to the last eight, but lost 2-1 at Old Trafford to exit the competition.
Wissam Ben Yedder’s brace sentSevilla into the quarter-finals for the first time in 60 years as United suffered a first European home defeat since 2013.
But anyone who thought that defeat would prompt a bout of soul-searching from the Portuguese was made to think again as Mourinho simply played down the limp exit.
“I’ve sat in this chair twice before with Porto, Manchester United out, and Real Madrid, Manchester United out, so I don’t think it’s anything new for the club,” said Mourinho, who was on the winning side as Real Madrid manager and also sent United out of the last 16 when Porto boss in 2004.
“I don’t want to make a drama of it. We have no time to be sad for more than 24 hours, that’s football. It’s not the end of the world.”
Heading into the clash there were many questions surrounding Mourinho’s tactics. In the first leg, which the Reds drew 0-0, the side was lacking in adventure and guile to get the all-important away goal. And once again, even though at home, United appeared too defensive and, at times, too scared to go out on the attack and punish a side they were expected to beat.
Mourinho sprang a surprise before kick-off by recalling Marouane Fellaini at the expense of Paul Pogba, who had also been dropped for the first game.
Mourinho’s gamble on Fellaini appeared to have largely backfired as he failed to impose his physical presence on Sevilla’s ball players in midfield, with the Spanish side controlling the game for the vast majority of the 90 minutes.
“We did our best, we tried, we lost, that’s football,” Mourinho said.
“I don’t think the performance was bad, the way we started was really positive. We were in control for the first 10 or 15 minutes, then after that Sevilla started to hide the ball. They have good players, they can do that.
They played well in the first half without creating many dangerous situations. We had chances to score in the second half but didn’t take them. After that it was clear that the first goal was going to change the shape of the game and they were the ones who scored it.”
CAUSTIC COACH OPEN TO ATTACK
Jose Mourinho is never shy at having a pop at an opponent or adversary. From accusing Arsene Wenger of being a “specialist in failure” to once claiming Pep Guardiola had never won a “proper Champions League”, the Portuguese seemingly plots his battles with other managers with as much glee as he does about getting a 0-0 draw at Sevilla.
But if there is one person Mourinho needs to being having a go at the moment it is with himself.
The defeat to the Spaniards was self-inflicted, the result of negative tactics and selection for which the United boss is well known, but which he should have jettisoned for a home tie against a fine, but not frightening Sevilla side.
With the Premier League title all but already won by arch-rivals Manchester City, the Champions League was the one competition that could have given United’s season meaning. But meaning for Mourinho is clearly defined first by not being beaten. That is the nearest thing you can point to as being his overarching philosophy — all well and good when you are a struggling side trying to avoid relegation, but when you have assembled one of the most expensive squads ever and are in search of silverware, fans are not being demanding when they cry for something more.
And that is the problem with Mourinho. When his teams are successful — with titles galore at Porto, Chelsea, Inter Milan and Real Madrid, they have been very successful — it is hard to argue against his turgid tactics, they get results and win trophies. But when they fail to secure silverware, then questioning how they could be so devoid of ambition and imagination as they were on Tuesday is more than fair.
The last coach Mourinho had a go at was Frank de Boer calling the former Crystal Palace coach “the worst manager in the history of the Premier League” ahead of the Sevilla clash. The Dutchman had his revenge after United’s exit when he said: “I may be the worst manager in the history of Premier League, but he is the manager that spent roughly £1 billion ($1.3 billion) in his career and makes his teams play like that.”
As barbs go it was up there with Mourinho at his bellicose best, and if the Portuguese were being honest with himself he would admit De Boer possibly has a point.