Mourinho joins Real and expect R.Madrid to win Champions League in 2 years
A confident Jose Mourinho said he will need only two years to win the Champions League with Real Madrid after he was officially unveiled as the Spanish giants’ new coach on Monday.
Mourinho joined Real on a four-year deal in the wake of leading Inter Milan to an historic treble of successes in Italy’s Serie A championship, the Italian Cup and Champions League.
And after replacing Manuel Pellegrini, sacked last week after a barren season having spent 250 million euros on new players including Cristiano Ronaldo, Kaka and Xabi Alonso, Mourinho feels he can do far better than the 56-year-old Chilean.
“The second year is key, it is the year when you find the right balance. It was during my second year at Chelsea that we reached the Champions League final. It was during my second year that we won the Champions League at Inter Milan,” he said.
“I want to say that we don’t need much time to build a coherent team, to build a team that meets its objectives,” the 47-year-old Portuguese coach added.
Real have been crowned kings of Europe nine times but their last Champions League triumph came in 2002.
Under Pellegrini this season Real finished runners-up to arch rivals Barcelona in the league, exited the Champions League at the last-16 stage and spectacularly crashed out of the King’s Cup to third division Alcorcon.
Mourinho said little about what changes, if any, he would bring to the squad, placing his focus on the need to forge a winning identity throughout the club.
“It’s too early to speak about changes. I believe it is time to analyse the situation, to get to know my club, ask lots of questions and get answers. I need to realise the direction of my work,” he said.
“The most important thing is not the coach or the players but the club. We are too small compared to the dimension of the club. If we work as a group, it’s not difficult to get results.”
Mourinho made his name when he led FC Porto to the Champions League title in 2004.
A hugely successful spell followed at Chelsea, and despite leaving the club before they went on to lose the 2008 final to Manchester United he resurrected his career with Inter.
His two-year spell at the Serie A side has left him as one of the most in-demand coaches in football.
“The promise I make to Real is that I am Jose Mourinho and Jose Mourinho works hard, works well, is very dedicated and aims to break limits,” the Portuguese coach said.
“I am a coach that has a lot of self-esteem and confidence and I don’t think about the possibility of being sacked,” he added.
“I think four years of contract is enough to win, to build a strong team for the present and the future.
“I have a lot of confidence in my players, I have the hope that my new players have confidence in me.”
Mourinho becomes Real’s 10th coach in as many seasons, during a period when their great rivals Barcelona have had just two with better results and titles.
“I am a coach that has a lot of self-esteem and confidence and I don’t think about the possibility of being sacked,” he said.
“I think four years of contract is enough to win, to build a strong team for the present and the future.
“I have a lot of confidence in my players, I have the hope that my new players have confidence in me.”
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Inter Milan’s president Massimo Moratti says Mourinho is leaving
Jose Mourinho’s time as Inter Milan coach is over said the Champions League winners’ president Massimo Moratti after having dined with him on Monday according ton the Ansa news agency.
Moratti said that the 47-year-old Portuguese’s attitude had been one that had already made his mind up to leave and take over at Spanish giants Real Madrid, who despite spending hundreds of millions on star players last summer ended up without a trophy.
Mourinho is seen as the obvious coach to turn to to deliver silverware having become the youngest coach to win the Champions League twice – he also won it with Porto in 2004 – and guiding Inter to an unprecedented treble for an Italian club of the Champions League, the league title and the Italian Cup.
“I believe yes,” said Moratti responding to a question as to whether he thought Mourinho’s work was finished at Inter.
“His attitude was that of somebody who believes he is going to Real Madrid,” added Moratti, who said it had been an interesting discussion.
Mourinho’s agent held talks with Real Madrid bosses in the Spanish capital on Monday over the Portuguese coach’s possible move to the club from Inter Milan.
The agent, Jorge Mendes, who also represents Real’s Portuguese striker Cristiano Ronaldo, held talks for about 90 minutes with the club’s director general Jorge Valdano and sporting director Miguel Pardeza.
Spanish sports dailies AS and Marca, reported on Sunday that Mourinho will sign a four-year deal with Real Madrid worth 10 million euros (12.5 million dollars) a year.
The stumbling block to the deal remains the talks with Inter Milan, who are demanding 16 million euros to let him leave the Italian side, they said.
His current contract with Inter Milan was due to expire in 2012 but has on several occasions expressed his dislike for Italian football.
Mourinho told Portuguese television station TVI on Sunday that the deal is almost a certainty but he wants to meet with Real officials first to get a clear understanding of what his role at the club would be.
“Things are practically ironed out. I want to meet the people, feel the pulse, know exactly what they want from me and the conditions, not the structures, because these I already know, to avoid any doubts when I begin my work,” he said.
Mourinho, who won the Premier League with Chelsea after leaving Porto, also had a warning for Real’s squad – which is loaded with stars such as Kaka and Gonzalo Higuain, in addition to Ronaldo.
“The stars now are Inter, they are the European champions. My message to the players of Real, if I come to coach them, is that they are not stars, the star is not the coach, the star is the team,” he said.
“If they all accept this like when I was at Porto, Chelsea or Inter, the victories will come.”
Mourinho, who has not lost a home match for the past seven seasons, follows Ernst Happel and Ottmar Hitzfeld as a member of the select band of coaches to have won the Champions League with two different clubs.
The Portuguese, who joined Inter two years ago, has also won two Serie A titles and an Italian Cup.
Speaking after the Champions League final, he acknowledged to having his eye on making history by becoming the only coach to win the Champions League with three different clubs.
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Jose Mourinho’s first trophy
Inter Milan secured the first trophy in their historic treble quest as they beat AS Roma 1-0 at the Stadio Olimpico here on Wednesday.
Diego Milito scored the only goal of the game while Roma substitute Francesco Totti was dismissed late on in an often bad-tempered and fractious affair.
It was Inter’s third cup triumph in the last six seasons — in the fifth final between the two teams in that same period — and their sixth in all.
Now Jose Mourinho’s men have two more league games to hold onto their Serie A lead — they head Roma by two points — and a Champions League final against Bayern Munich in Madrid on May 22 as they aim to become the first ever Italian team to win the treble.
The game got off to a dreadful start for the nerazzurri as Wesley Sniejder went down under a heavy challenge by on loan Inter defender Nicolas Burdisso and after hobbling around for a minute he had to be replaced.
Mourinho decided to throw on forward Mario Balotelli, changing his formation in the process to a 4-3-3 from a 4-3-1-2.
Despite the change Inter were very much in the ascendancy in the first half as Esteban Cambiasso dispossessed Mirko Vucinic in midfield and spread the ball wide to Samuel Eto’o, who slipped it inside for the charging Maicon but Julio Sergio blocked his near post shot.
Moments later Maicon crossed and Thiago Motta rose highest in box but couldn’t keep his header down.
On 16 minutes Eto’o played in Milito but his clinical finish was disallowed for a marginal offside.
Eto’o turned provider again on 21 minutes, clipping the ball over the top for Balotelli whose control was exquisite before Burdisso slid in to block his left foot volley.
Roma finally came to life on 25 minutes with a rapid break as Marco Materazzi got caught out of position but Julio Cesar came out to get a vital touch on Rodrigo Taddei’s cross and deny Luca Toni an easy tap-in.
Roma came close again as Simone Perrotta played it wide to Taddei and then met his return cross with a bullet header that flew just off target.
Inter then lost Ivan Cordoba to injury, replaced by Walter Samuel but they took the lead on 39 minutes.
Thiago Motta played Milito in down the inside right channel and despite having three defenders converging on him, the Argentine scampered into the box and buried a shot into the top left corner.
Roma should have drawn level on 53 minutes as Julio Cesar spilled a Totti free-kick from 30 yards but centre-back Juan somehow contrived to head over an open goal from six yards.
Minutes later Balotelli forced Julio Sergio into a sprawling save down to his right.
With a quarter of an hour left Roma had a free-kick from 25 yards but John Arne Riise blazed it high and wide.
Julio Cesar then had to punch away a dipping Riise volley while Vucinic screwed a shot horribly wide after a lucky deflection played him in.
Then three minutes from time Totti lost his head and deliberately hoofed Balotelli, earning a straight red card which he didn’t contest.
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Tottenham Hotspur qualifies for 2011 Champions League
Peter Crouch netted a late winner as Tottenham defeated Manchester City 1-0 on Wednesday night to claim England’s fourth Champions League place — a result which could be worth $75 million to the London club.
Harry Redknapp’s team have qualified for Europe’s premier football competition for the first time since 1961, as the win put Spurs four points clear of fifth-placed City with one round of the English Premier League remaining.
It also kept alive Tottenham’s hopes of overhauling London rivals Arsenal, who are two points ahead in third.
If Arsenal lose at home to Europa League finalists Fulham on Sunday, then Tottenham can avoid having to play Champions League preliminary round qualifiers by winning at relegated Burnley.
If Tottenham can reach the group stages of the lucrative tournament, it is expected the club could go on to earn a potential $75 million in television and prize money.
“It’s fantastic. It’s been a terrific season for us, we’ve played some great football along the way and we deserve it,” Redknapp, who before the match accused City of threatening to out-bid his team for midfielder Wilson Palacios if he tried to sign striker Craig Bellamy from West Ham last year, told reporters.
“It was a good night, we played some good stuff and I could see the goal coming. Crouchy was fantastic, led the line, unbelievable. It was a good performance.”
The defeat may have serious significance for City manager Roberto Mancini, who was given the remit of finishing at least fourth by the club’s big-spending billionaire Abu Dhabi owners when he replaced the sacked Mark Hughes in December.
As it is, City will have to make do with a place in the second-tier Europa League, which will make it harder to attract top players to the club and may even result in top scorer Carlos Tevez — who has recently criticized Mancini — leaving Manchester.
“Yes I’m confident. I don’t know but I think I stay here. Why not?” the Italian coach told reporters when asked about his future.
“I work here four or five months, and I think when you build a house you don’t start from the roof, but the basement. We work very well but we are near the roof.
“I am not a magician, I don’t have a magic wand. We wanted this place and we tried like Liverpool, Tottenham and Aston Villa.
“I think we’ve had a good season because we’ll play in the Europa League next year and we’ve improved a lot. I’m disappointed with this result, but it’s football.”
Both teams had many chances to break the deadlock in a tense end-to-end match, but England striker Peter Crouch finally made amends for some glaring misses of his own when he headed home with eight minutes to play after goalkeeper Marton Fulop did well to keep out a cross by Younes Kaboul that deflected wickedly off City defender Wayne Bridge.
Crouch, who hit the post in the 18th minute, ended his recent barren run with his 13th goal this season to boost his chances of going to the World Cup in South Africa.
Teammate Ledley King, who will also be hoping to be in Fabio Capello’s squad after playing his third match in 11 days despite his notoriously fragile knee, had a header ruled out for allegedly leaning on the recalled Gareth Barry just three minutes later.
Tottenham goalkeeper Heurelho Gomes, who was passed fit after suffering a groin injury in Saturday’s 1-0 win at Bolton, did well to save a fierce shot from City’s young England hopeful Adam Johnson — and then turned away a deflection off his own player Gareth Bale.
Fulop denied Jermain Defoe with a fine save in the 56th minute, then the diminutive England striker and Crouch both just missed a low cross from Benoit Assou-Ekotto with the City goal at their mercy.
Crouch then headed straight at Fulop when it seemed easier to score, but six minutes later he pounced to give Tottenham a fifth win in six visits to City’s Eastlands stadium.
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Footballer of the Year 2010 – Wayne Rooney
Wayne Rooney has been voted the 2010 Footballer of the Year by the Football Writers’ Association.
he Manchester United striker topped the poll of journalists with just over 81 per cent of a record votes cast, finishing ahead of Chelsea forward Didier Drogba and Manchester City’s Carlos Tevez to win the prestigious accolade which has been running since 1948.
The 24-year-old – who has led the Reds Devils’ challenge to Chelsea for the Barclays Premier League title, scoring some 34 goals in all competitions – will receive his award at the FWA’s gala dinner at The Lancaster London Hotel on 13th May.
“I am delighted to win an award with so much history and tradition and to follow a long line of wonderful players who have been honoured by the Football Writers’ Association since 1948 gives me real pride,” said Rooney.
“I would like to take this opportunity to thank my manager at United, Sir Alex Ferguson, the coaching staff and my team-mates, without whose help and support this award would not have been possible.
“Also a big thanks to my family and friends for their constant support which is always appreciated.
“I thank the Football Writers’ Association members who voted for me and I look forward to personally collecting my award at the Footballer of the Year dinner.”
FWA chairman Steve Bates, chief football writer for The People, commented: “Wayne is a worthy winner of our prestigious award and the margin of his victory is testimony to the marvellous season he has had for club and country.
“His tally of 34 goals so far this season is certain to have captured the attention of our members, but I am sure the overall improvement in his game at Manchester United has been of equal significance.
“Wayne’s enthusiasm, hunger and desire mark him out as a special player and we hope he can carry his club form onto the international stage in the World Cup this summer to help England achieve their dream.
“We now look forward to saluting Wayne at our dinner.”
Rooney was last week named the Professional Footballers’ Association Player of the Year to crown his best season yet.
The England striker has scored 26 goals in 30 Barclays Premier League appearances but is set to sit out Sunday’s showdown at Sunderland through injury.
He hopes to be fit for the final fixture at home to Stoke City on 9th May but has pledged to be fit for the World Cup finals in South Africa.
