Mourinho’s Euro woes add to pressure on United

LONDON: Jose Mourinho is facing an unsettling new reality in the Champions League as Manchester United launch their campaign at Young Boys of Bern on Wednesday.

Mour inho was onc e the Champions League’s pre- eminent force, winning the tournament twice and making the latter stages virtually every year.

But it is four years since the Portuguese coach last managed a victory in the knockout stages of Europe’s elite club competition.

In that time, the 55-year- old has been surpassed by Liverpool’s Jurgen Klopp, Atletico Madrid’s Diego Simeone and former Real Madrid boss Zinedine Zidane as the tournament’s most innovative and successful coaches.

In Mourinho’s past 10 knockout games with United and Chelsea in the Champions League he has just two wins and five draws – his last away victory in the knockout stages came at United’s expense in 2013 when he was still at Real Madrid.

Mourinho’s decline as a Champions League force mirrors the fading challenge of United, who reached three finals in four seasons from 2008 but have struggled to make an impact since.

The club are preparing for the match against the Swiss champions in Bern after an unsettling start to the season but might feel they have turned a corner after a hard-fought 2-1 win against Watford in the Premier League.

Mourinho, in an upbeat mood after Saturday’s second straight win, will be desperate to erase the memory of United’s spineless last16 exit against Sevilla last season, during which frustrated United fans chanted “attack, attack, attack” at their own players.

The limp defeat was a far cry from the days when free-flowing United sides won two European Cups under Alex Ferguson and regularly reached the sharp end of the tournament.

The desperate message from the stands that night left Mourinho looking a forlorn figure on the same turf where he had announced his arrival on the Champions League stage with a jubilant touchline jig during Porto’s shock win 14 years previously.

With memories of that Sevilla capitulation still fresh, Mourinho will head to Bern looking for a positive start to his redemption tour. — AFP