Mourinho on coaching Portugal: The president of the federation would do everything to get me

After the last World Cup, Portugal sacked their coach Fernando Santos, who had been in charge of Cristiano Ronaldo and co. since 2014. There was a lot of talk about José Mourinho coming in, but it didn’t happen.

The “Special One” or José Mourinho has never made it a secret that he would like to return home and coach the Portuguese national team one day. It was supposed to be the icing on the cake of his illustrious career.

But he had to wait a long time for that. In 2014, Fernando Santos took over the national team and cemented his place. In 2016, he won the EURO in France and won Portugal’s first ever trophy.

Three years later, he added a second trophy when the Portuguese dominated the first edition of the Nations League. He was popular enough among fans and players alike, there was no reason to call him off for so long. It wasn’t until the World Cup in Qatar that doubts were raised and the federation decided that the 68-year-old coach had nothing left to give the team.

So finally a chance came for Mourinho, but at the wrong time. José is currently coaching AS Roma, where he has started a promising project and where he does not want to leave. Yet he’s been offered the job.

The president of the Portuguese federation, Fernando Gomes, offered him to coach AS Rome and Portugal at the same time. However, there was no agreement and Portugal was taken over by the Spaniard Robert Martinez, who ended up on the Belgium bench after the World Cup.

After AS Roma’s win on Thursday, Mourinho commented on the national team. “ Today I can talk about it, and I want to thank the president of the Portuguese federation,” Mourinho said.

“What he said made me very proud. When he said that I was not his first choice but his only choice and that he would do everything to bring me home. He really made me happy. But I didn’t go, I’m here in Rome and I’m giving it my all,” the Portuguese coach revealed.

Source: Portugoal