The Portuguese coach Rome Jose Mourinho declared that “the war of Ukraine it is a human rather than a political failure” and “something difficult to explain”.
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The technician, ex Real Madrid, Chelsea, Inter O Manchester Unitedamong others, showed his most personal facet in an extensive interview with Cardinal Jose Tolentino de Mendoncahis compatriot, who publishes this Tuesday ‘The Osservatore Romano‘.
Mourinho He didn’t just talk about football. The Setubalense revealed the most hidden facet of him, his thoughts on the war with Ukraine and his relationship with God.
“It is a failure at all levels of humanity”
“I believe that the war in Ukraine is a human rather than a political failure. It is a brutal failure, it is the loss of principles or the non-development of them, it is the evolution of human thought in the wrong direction, which is fundamental and which is less. It is something difficult to explain. It is a failure at all levels of humanity: it is our failure,” he said of the Russian invasion of Ukraine.
The ‘giallorossi’ coach, who is now fighting to maintain fifth place and is trying to storm fourth, the last one for access to the Champions League, explained how he sees current football, which he thinks “has a cruel facet”.
“There is something cruel in high-performance sport”
“You pay for your mistakes. If I make a mistake, I pay for it by being fired. If a player makes a mistake, he pays for it by not playing. There is something cruel about it, but we cannot let the nature of our work overlap with what we are as people. I try to help others and myself to be better. One thing that is hard for me to accept is the waste of talent, it is something that still, after 30 years of football, it is hard for me to accept”, he said.
“There is something cruel in high-performance sport, especially football, which is the most industrialized sport at all levels,” he added.
Regarding performance in top competition, the Portuguese believes that tactics and preparation alone are not enough. You have to add something else. Something that he links to “spirituality”.
“I think that in preparing for a competition at the highest level, which implies pressure and responsibility, you have to put something more than what you have trained in, and I think that something else is closely linked to your spirituality. That something extra can be thinking about the people who want us to win today. The tactical, technical, physical and mental aspect is not enough, something more is needed”, he explained.
In addition, he confessed that in private, the last thing he talks about is football: “Football is the last thing I talk about, it’s the last thing I think about, the last thing I ask for something. And that’s exactly what I was trying to say. Trying to be a good father, a good husband, a son, a good friend, this attempt is the greatest motivation a person can have in life.”
Your family, ahead of anything
MourinhoLikewise, he wanted to make it clear in the talk that his family is ahead of anything. Ahead of his work and football. And that Pope Francis is an “inspiring” figure for him.
“I talk to God and I always end up saying: my family is more important than this. Give me a hand if you have time… but if the choice has to be between football and the well-being of the people I love, I don’t think twice times…” he pointed out.
“The pope inspires me because I can look at him and, without having had the honor of meeting him, I listen to him and I don’t get tired. I see that simplicity, and it seems to me that he is capable of creating empathy with people of different faiths than ours,” confessed the technician .