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José Mourinho “sometimes forget[s] about Tottenham”
José Mourinho ostensibly took a sly dig at Spurs in a recent interview.
The star Portuguese manager is preparing for the 2024/25 season with his new side, Fenerbahçe, and featuring in the Champions League qualifying rounds, the Kanaryalar having finished second in the Süper Lig last season with 99 points behind the champions, Galatasaray.
When asked about playing in a European competition’s qualifying round, this is what he said:
“This is not the first time for me, it is the second time. I sometimes forget about Tottenham, that I played with them in the qualifiers.
“This is the second time this has happened to me, but it’s the first time I’m starting the season in a summer month when there is a European Championship and a World Cup.
“This makes our job twice as difficult. It is difficult because you are playing official matches and the players from the European Championship return to the team in different periods. We have now carried out 40 training sessions, maybe we were able to work as a full squad in a maximum of ten. They joined the team step by step, which made our job difficult. But this is the situation we are in.
“I don’t like making excuses, I always prefer to concentrate on the next match. Tomorrow, our team and the players will be better off except for Fred’s absence. We are motivated for this match. Sometimes they ask, ‘What is your motivation for the season, being in the Champions League or winning the league?’ I always say the same thing: ‘My motivation is always the next match.'”
Mourinho, as quoted by Football London.
The 61-year-old’s stay in North London lasted less than two years as he was famously dismissed a week before Spurs took on Man City in the 2021 Carabao Cup final, which they went on to lose.
Mourinho was sacked midway through last season at Roma and took over Fenerbahçe earlier this summer, signing a two-year deal worth €10.5 million per year.
Fenerbahçe kick off their league campaign against Adana Demirspor this Saturday and have their two Champions League qualifying legs against Lille on either side of it.
Tottenham want to forget Mourinho too, but can’t
The whiff of a silverware Spurs had on their way to the 2019 Champions League final prompted club chairman Daniel Levy to take a hard turn from his side’s attractive football ideals and bring serial-winner managers to break their infamous trophy curse.
And so came José Mourinho, and then Antonio Conte after him. Neither succeeded and put the club further back by making them set up temporary measures that would always have troubled the club in the long term.
And so here Spurs stand, having made that call and now having to live with the consequences of their actions, with the trophy drought only continuing.
One hopes they understand that there are no shortcuts they can take.
