City’s title-winning TV series lacks class, says unimpressed Mourinho
Jose Mourinho has lambasted Manchester City for his treatment in their new fly-onthe-wall documentary series All Or Nothing.
The Manchester United manager is repeatedly referenced in a negative light and the Portuguese is not happy about it all. There are descriptions about “anti-football” and there is a clip of Mourinho talking about why he sold Kevin De Bruyne during his time as Chelsea manager, with viewers being invited to think what a huge mistake he made. It has seriously irked the United boss and it will once again stoke up the rivalry between him and Pep Guardiola. Mourinho even suggests that he deserves an acknowledgement for how much he is involved in the documentary, which is on Amazon. And he also pointedly refers to T-shirts that City had made up for last season’s derby at the Etihad Stadium when victory would have won them the title. As it was, United came from 2-0 behind at half-time to win the match 3-2 and postpone the celebrations for a week. “I haven’t seen it, but I know a few things about the movie,” he says. “My reaction is that if you are a rich club, you can buy top players, but you cannot buy class. The second reaction is because I am in the movie, I could ask for some royalties. “But if they send me one of the shirts they had in the tunnel when we played there, the shirts that were saying, ‘We did it on derby day’, I give up about the royalties. “You know, a movie without me doesn’t sell too much. I needed to be in there.” Away from City’s documentary, Mourinho is preparing for this afternoon’s Premier League away trip to Brighton. It has been the summer when goalkeepers have suddenly become football’s most prized commodities with Alisson going to Liverpool for £67 million and Kepa Arrizabalaga breaking that record to join Chelsea for £72 million. Yet when Mourinho looks at his last line of defence, he’s a very happy man. He wouldn’t swap David de Gea for anybody and he’s confident his goalkeeper will sign a new contract to extend his current deal which runs out next summer. After seven seasons as United’s No.1, the Spaniard has won so many points for his team. But don’t ask his manager to put a price on that. “His value is zero,” says Mourinho. “He’s a Manchester United player, he likes it here and he will sign a new contract as soon as possible. “We love him, we want him to stay and he wants to stay. So when a player is not on the market, his value is zero. “My goalkeeper is always the best goalkeeper in the world. I said that to my goalkeeper when I was coaching Uniao Leiria, a small club in Portugal. “I don’t want to be called disrespectful or arrogant and say that Thibaut Courtois is not good or Manuel Neuer is not good because there are so many good goalkeepers. “But I wouldn’t swap David for anyone. That is the best answer.” Mourinho has also launched a passionate defence of his goalkeeper in light of some disappointing performances for Spain at the World Cup. De Gea made a bad mistake in the 3-3 draw with Portugal in the group stages and actually was only credited with making one save during the four matches Spain played before their surprise defeat to Russia in the last-16. It was a far cry from the goalkeeper seen making save after save at club level, but Mourinho thinks he was an easy scapegoat for the Spanish exit. “David played four matches in the World Cup and he made one mistake,” argues the United boss. “With that mistake, his team didn’t lose. “It was a technical mistake for one of Cristiano Ronaldo’s goals, but Spain equalised. “They drew that game, won the next and drew the next and finished first in the group. “Then they played Russia in the fourth game. They drew and lost on penalties. “So for four matches and 390 minutes, David de Gea made one mistake and his team was not even punished by that mistake. “Because all of the other guys play for Real Madrid, Atletico Madrid and Barcelona, they were protected. “But the poor guy who plays for Manchester United was the one that was destroyed. But David knew perfectly he was not responsible for Spain being knocked out. “As it is, he came back normal and on tour in the United States, he started working absolutely normally.