Mourinho reveals the only time he’s cried after a defeat.
Jose Mourinho has revealed the only time that he has cried after losing a match during his coaching career – the Champions League defeat to Bayern Munich back in 2012 while he was Real Madrid head coach.
The German giants advanced to the final of the competition that year after beating Madrid on penalties, with the semi-final tie having gone to extra-time and spot-kicks following a 2-1 win for Mourinho’s men over the 90 minutes.
With the first leg having finished 2-1 to the Bundesliga side, Cristiano Ronaldo struck twice inside 14 minutes at the Bernabeu to put the hosts ahead in the tie.
Arjen Robben struck from the penalty spot after 27 minutes to level things up at 3-3 on aggregate, with Ronaldo, Kaka and Sergio Ramos all missing from 12 yards as the match went to penalties.
Bastian Schweinsteiger was on hand to net the winning spot-kick and set up a meeting with Chelsea in the final, a game that the Blues would win at the Allianz Arena in a match that was again decided by spot-kicks.
Looking back at the defeat, the Tottenham head coach told Marca: “Unfortunately, that’s football. Cristiano, Kaka, Sergio Ramos… three complete monsters of football, there’s no doubt about that, but they’re also human.
“That night is the only time in my career as a coach that I’ve cried after a defeat. I remember it well… Aitor [Karanka, Madrid assistant at the time] and I pulled up in front of my house, in the car, crying.
“It was very hard because we were the best that season.”
It proved to be one of few blips in an outstanding season for Madrid, who won the Liga title and earned 100 points, nine more than Barcelona, setting the record for a single top-flight season in Spain.
Los Blancos also scored 121 goals in the competition in that famous 2011-12 campaign, another La Liga record, while they would end up losing just twice in the league – to Levante and Barca respectively.
Mourinho managed Madrid between 2010 and 2013 and won 128 of his 178 matches in charge of the Spanish club.
He would then go on to coach Chelsea for the second time in his career, winning a third Premier League title for the Blues, before joining Manchester United in 2016 – a spell that would last just over two seasons prior to his sacking in December 2018.
The 57-year-old replaced Mauricio Pochettino at Tottenham in November 2019, guiding the club to eighth in the Premier League table prior to the coronavirus pandemic bringing a halt to football across the globe.
