When Jose was the Tearful One

JOSE MOURINHO has revealed how losing a Champions League semi-final to Bayern Munich with Real Madrid in 2012 left him crying in his car.

This weekend marks eight years since Mourinho ended Pep Guardiola’s domination in Spain by winning La Liga. But he also had the chance to win Real’s

10th European Cup, only to lose on penalties to Bayern, with Cristiano Ronaldo, Kaka and Sergio Ramos missing from the spot.

Mourinho told Spanish paper Marca: ‘That is also football. Cristiano, Kaka, Sergio Ramos. They are three monsters of football, there is no doubt about that. But they are also human. That night is the only time I have cried after a match.

‘I remember it well: me and Aitor [Karanka] parked in the car in front of my house, crying. It was very hard to take because in that season we were the best team in Europe.’

Reflecting on winning La Liga with a record 100 points and 121 goals, he said: ‘It wasn’t just that we won the league, we ended Barcelona’s domination and we did it in an historic way.

‘That was my hat-trick, if we put aside Portugal. I wanted to win the league in England, Italy and Spain. And I’m still the only coach who has done it. I wanted to go into the history books in that way. I also loved Madrid and winning with Madrid.’

Of football returning without fans, Mourinho said: ‘I don’t like to think of it as behind closed doors because the cameras will be there and there will be millions of people watching.

‘An empty stadium, in that sense, is never really empty. If we play these nine games that we have left then it will be good for everyone. Good for football, good for the Premier League.’