Man United boss targets third crown
Swiss outfit Basel has the potential to upset Mourinho’s applecart
He has twice stunned Old Trafford into silence on Champions League nights, but as Manchester United make their competition return, Jose Mourinho’s obligation is to make the old stadium roar.
In 2004 his Porto side sensationally eliminated United in the Champions League last 16 and in 2013, he returned with Real Madrid to bring the curtain down on Alex Ferguson’s European exploits in the Old Trafford dugout.
The Champions League has always been the competition in which Mourinho has defined himself and he has already been talking up his chances of surpassing Ferguson’s record as the competition’s most experienced manager.
“I know that I am in the top five or six. I’m quite far, especially from the top one, but I will fight hard to go for that record,” said Mourinho, who has overseen 133 Champions League games to Ferguson’s 194.
“Last season I lost a season in the chase for this record [as United won the Europa League], but Manchester United is where Manchester United has to be and I’m really happy with that.
“The Champions League night is a unique experience for everyone. I have some players without that great experience.”
The Old Trafford crowd’s first encounter with their current manager in March 2004 exposed them to the full force of Mourinho the provocateur.
He raced down the touchline, coattails flapping behind him, when Costinha’s late goal took Porto through at United’s expense, before witheringly proclaiming that Ferguson’s side “should be doing a lot better”.
Nine years later, the Mourinho who took his seat in the dugout was an altogether more conciliatory figure.
Stocks dip
Mourinho, 54, dreams of becoming only the third manager to win three European Cups, after Bob Paisley and Carlo Ancelotti, and the first to do so with three different clubs.
But his stock in the competition has dipped since his second success with Inter Milan in 2010, the Portuguese having failed to go beyond the semifinals in his three years at Madrid and two-and-a-half-year second stint at Chelsea.
Both he and United also have reason to be wary of their first Group A opponents Basel, who visit Old Trafford on Tuesday.
Four years ago, the first Champions League game of Mourinho’s second Chelsea tenure culminated in a surprise 2-1 home defeat by the Swiss club.