Defiant Mourinho defends his record

Jose Mourinho went on a remarkable 12-minute rant as he launched an impassioned defence of his record at Manchester United in the wake of the Champions League exit to Sevilla.

After the struggles of David Moyes and Louis van Gaal following Sir Alex Ferguson’s retirement in 2013, the Old Trafford giants turned to the Portuguese in a bid to bring success back to the club.

United won the Europa League, EFL Cup and Community Shield in his first season, but the FA Cup is now the only silverware they can realistically achieve this time out.

Mourinho has been criticised by pundits and fans for his approach over both legs against Sevilla, but initially appeared in jovial mood at a press conference ahead of tonight’s FA Cup quarter-final against Brighton.

He answered four questions in a standard manner before one on the fans’ reaction to the Sevilla loss brought an extraordinary reaction.

“Fans are the fans, and the fans have the right to have their opinions and to have their reactions,” Mourinho said.

“But there is something that I used to call football heritage – I try to translate from my Portuguese, which is almost perfect to my English that is far from perfect.

“But translation, word by word is something like football heritage and what a manager inherits is something like is that the last time Manchester United won the Champions League, which didn’t happen a lot of times, was in 2008. The (last) final was 2011.”

Then Mourinho, using pre-prepared notes, went through each of United’s European seasons since that final against Barcelona in detail before attention turned to the Premier League and wider matters.

He highlighted Manchester City’s recent success, name-checking some of their established players, before adding: “Do you know how many of United players left the club last season? See where they play. Where they play, how they play, if they play. That’s football heritage.”

The United boss then pointed to the European giants that have dominated the Champions League in recent years, before affirming his position as United manager for years to come.

“I am here and I am going to be here, and no way – no way – I am going to change my mentality,” Mourinho said defiantly.

Today’s other quarter-final tie sees Swansea City host Tottenham at lunchtime, with Mark Hughes in charge of Southampton for the first time when they visit shock troops Wigan tomorrow before Chelsea visit Leicester in the final game of the weekend.