Manchester United manager Jose Mourinho has claimed that in five years’ time, nobody will remember him as having been Chelsea manager before taking the reigns at Old Trafford.
The Portuguese manager was speaking ahead of the Blues’ Premier League match against the Red Devils, about returning to face his old side — but he played down the rivalry (quotes via the Independent):
I played [managed] there [Stamford Bridge] with Inter[nazionale] and twice with Manchester United
I have to admit it’s a little bit different but in the end I want to win like I did with Inter. They [Chelsea] want to win like they did last season, and it’s just one more day.
Mourinho managed Serie A side Inter Milan from 2008 to 2010 and won two league titles, the Coppa Italia, the Supercoppa Italia and the UEFA Champions League in an incredible, though short, period.
The Portuguese manager was in charge of Chelsea from 2004-2007 and then again from 2013-2015 but feels that he won’t be remembered for his time in the Stamford Bridge dugout:
And in a couple of years, it will be even more natural, and in four or five years, probably nobody will remember that I was Chelsea manager, and it becomes absolutely normal, just because I left a couple of years ago.
He also spoke of the magnitude of the upcoming fixture between his current side and the team he used to manage:
It’s a big match, but not because of that at all. It’s a big match because they are the champions. It’s a big match because we are Manchester United. No more than that
Chelsea vs Manchester United kicks off at 16:30 GMT on Sunday.
