José Mourinho Prepares For First Champions League Match With Tottenham

José Mourinho is back in the Champions League, looking forward to Tottenham’s group home game against Olympiakos on Tuesday – win and they are through – and it took him roughly 60 seconds to mention his two triumphs in the competition.

Thirty seconds after that Mourinho dropped in how he had never failed to reach the knockout rounds with any of his clubs and he had a nice line when asked whether Spurs’ run to the final last season amounted to a miracle. It was not the word he would have used, he replied, “Although probably I have done in the past a few times.”

If Mourinho has banged the drum for a new-found humility since replacing Mauricio Pochettino last Wednesday, he remains the master of the humble brag. There was more. It will be his first home game with Spurs – at a stadium he described as the “best in the world” – and his mind went back to some of his previous debut matches.

“The first match of my career as a head coach [with Benfica], I lost and I couldn’t imagine in that moment my career would bring as much success,” Mourinho said. “The two seasons where I won the treble with Porto and Inter [taking in the Champions League], I started with draws. So two bad results and we won everything.”

Mourinho’s memory failed him slightly; his Porto team had kicked off with a win over Braga, while Inter lost to Lazio in the Italian Super Cup. He was on more recent ground when he joked he has a 100% record at the Tottenham Stadium, having been the assistant manager of the Inter Legends team for their 5-4 win over a Spurs XI in one of the test events last March.