Proud Jose Mourinho still has picture of his Europa League win with Man Utd hanging up in Roma office

Posted Sunday, November 21, 2021 by Thesun.co.uk

JOSE MOURINHO still has a picture of his 2017 Europa League success with Manchester United hanging proudly on the wall of his office at Roma.

Back in 2013, the Portuguese belittled Rafa Benitez's Europa League win at Chelsea by insisting such a feat would be a 'disappointment' to him.

Jose Mourinho has a picture of himself kissing the Europa League trophy hanging in his office

He said: "I don't want to win the Europa League.

"It would be a big disappointment for me. I don't want my players to feel the Europa League is our competition."

But he changed his tune four years later, when he won the competition with United, sneaking the Red Devils into the Champions League through the backdoor with a 2-0 win over Ajax in Stockholm.

And last year while managing Spurs, Mourinho said: "But if we say, ‘Come on, next season we are going to win the Europa League’ – that is a different feeling.

"So I talk about this extreme situation. I don’t care that you are going to bring it up all the time. I don’t care. I have lots of respect for the competition."

Such is his newfound 'respect' for the competition, that a picture of himself kissing the Europa League trophy adorns the wall of his Roma office.

Mourinho, 58, will have more miserable memories of the Europa League in recent times, however.

His Spurs side were humiliated by Dinamo Zagreb in last season's competition.

Having led 2-0 from the first leg, the Lilywhites capitulated in Croatia - losing 3-0 after extra time in a performance that captain Hugo Lloris labelled a 'disgrace'.

Mourinho was sacked just a month later.

This season, his Roma side find themselves in the Europa Conference League.

But even this more lowly competition hasn't been plain sailing.

The Italians were beaten 6-1 by little-known Norwegians Bodo/Glimt, leading to Mourinho slating his players.