YOU’RE NOTHING SPECIAL Mourinho’s taunt at Liverpool

JOSE MOURINHO insists he takes no extra satisfaction from beating Liverpool.

The Manchester United boss has his own history with the Merseysiders, stretching back to 2005 when Luis Garcia’s ‘ghost goal’ against Chelsea took Rafa Benitez’s men through to the Champions League Final and the miracle of Istanbul.

Mourinho avenged that defeat when he masterminded a smash-and-grab raid of his own two years ago, beating Liverpool 2-0 and handing the Premier League title to Manchester City.

Now the Special One has handed down the ultimate insult to the Kop – by branding Liverpool a big club that is nothing special.

When I asked Mourinho if he took any extra pleasure from breaking Anfield hearts, he was unequivocal.

“No,” he said. “For me, playing Liverpool is just to play against a big club.

“In Madrid, I wanted to play against Barcelona and I wanted to play against Atletico and against Valencia.

“At Inter, I wanted to play against Milan, against Juventus, against Roma. At Chelsea, I wanted to play against Man United, against Liverpool, against Arsenal, against all the big clubs in the country.

“And now at Man United it is the same, so I love to play against the big opponents - and Liverpool is a big opponent.

“I celebrated in 2014 because of what happened before that match.

“Chelsea had a Champions League semi-final to play and we wanted to play Liverpool on the Saturday because the Champions League was on the Tuesday.

“What happened was that we had to play on the Sunday, when Atletico Madrid were playing on the Friday. So we felt that match was set-up for Liverpool to be champions. In fact we went there with the players that were not playing against Atletico, because we had no chance of the title.

“Everybody was waiting for something different than what actually happened.”

It is a source of great pride at Old Trafford that in the 26 years since Liverpool last won the league, they have been overtaken by United.

The Mancunians now lead 20-18 in title triumphs.

And while Jurgen Klopp may have ignited a flame of fresh optimism on the red side of Merseyside, Mourinho refused to acknowledge Liverpool as genuine contenders for the Premier League.

“That is not my problem,” he said. “We have a very difficult match on Monday and I think Liverpool also have a very difficult match on Monday. “It is not for me to say that they are or they are not title

contenders. You have to ask them.”

It was a jibe that would have been felt at the other end of the East Lancs Road, where Liverpool have been bracing themselves for the Portuguese’s mind games and he has also cranked up the pressure on referee Anthony Taylor.

But Mourinho scoffed at suggestions that the discipline of his United players will be tested in the heat of the Anfield cauldron.

Mourinho added: “Our disciplinary record is really, really good. We don’t have any problems at all at this level.

“We are a team that plays with discipline, we are a team that is following everything that was told to us in the meetings we had with the Premier League and the referees.

“We don’t press referees and we behave on the touchline, so that is a point we are very comfortable with.”