Jose Mourinho reveals the two biggest regrets of his career – including re-joining Chelsea and the club he ‘should have left straight away’
Jose Mourinho has revealed that re-joining Chelsea in 2013 is one of the two major regrets of his managerial career.
The Portuguese manager opted to leave Real Madrid after three years and take up a second stint at Stamford Bridge, where he won a third Premier League trophy in 2015 but was sacked seven months later in acrimonious circumstances.
Chelsea were languishing in 16th place in December 2015, just one point ahead of the relegation places, and had lost nine of their 16 previous matches.
His career has taken him to Manchester United, Tottenham, and Fenerbahce among others, but staying with Roma after they lost the 2023 Europa League final to Sevilla in Budapest ranks as his other great regret.
Mourinho has often spoken of his fondness for Roma but his third season there descended into anarchy and, after receiving five red cards and having the club ninth in Serie A, he was sacked in January 2024.
‘The “no” to (Real Madrid president) Florentino Perez (is one regret),’ Mourinho told Corriere dello Sport. ‘He said to me: “Don’t leave, you’ve done the hard part and the best part is yet to come.”
Jose Mourinho says leaving Real Madrid to re-join Chelsea in 2013 is one of his big regrets
He won a third league title with the Blues in 2015 but left under a cloud seven months later
Mourinho also regrets not leaving Roma immediately after losing the 2023 Europa League final
‘I knew it was true, but I wanted to return to Chelsea after three years of great challenges in Spain.
Mourinho continued: ‘I have to talk about Budapest. Not because of the confusion with Anthony Taylor, but because I didn’t leave straight away. I should have left Roma straight away. I didn’t and it was a mistake.’
Mourinho had been hit with a four-match ban by UEFA after confronting referee Taylor in the car park and branding him a ‘f*****g disgrace’ following the defeat on penalties by Sevilla.
‘Leaving Roma was difficult, but I have grown a lot and I have learned something new every day since I won my first Champions League 20 years ago,’ he added.
‘The greatness of a coach lies in his honesty, not in relationships. The coach has become progressively less important and increasingly dependent on structures and characters who are often not prepared. There have been changes at all levels.
‘In recent years I have reached three finals, one with Manchester United and two with Roma. All of this with a bit of fun and with pride, because when you do that with a club with no history in Europe you realise that you have achieved something special.’
Despite Mourinho painting his 2013 Madrid exit as a rather one-sided affair, it is not as if they were delighted with the work he had done. They were, in their vaulting ambitions, barely satisfied.
The self-styled Special One had won LaLiga, the Copa del Rey, and the Supercopa de Espana once each across a three-year spell, taking them to the Champions League semi-finals three times but failing to reclaim the trophy.
Mourinho is currently in charge of Fenerbahce, who are second in the Turkish Super League
Madrid president Florentino Perez credited Mourinho for getting the club ‘back where we belong’ but said his successes were ‘not enough’
At the time, president Perez said: ‘We have made a big jump in terms of competitiveness. Now we are back where we belong. Before we were being knocked out of the Champions League at the last-16 stage and now we are always group seeds.
‘We played some spectacular football last season. In the world of mere mortals reaching the semi-finals of the Champions League and the final of the Copa del Rey would be enough but for us it is not enough.
‘Overall, the balance is positive. It has just not been sufficiently good; neither for us nor for Mourinho. But it has not been a bad season.
‘Mourinho is the longest-serving coach in the first division. It is not easy to last three seasons — and even more so at this club.
‘If we had won a European Cup then we would not be talking about this. In England a match lasts the two hours before a game, the two hours of the game, and then the two hours afterwards. Here it is seven days a week and the pressure tells. We would have liked him to continue but the pressure was just not sustainable and went beyond the limits of normality, with insults unbecoming civilised people.’
