No, not him... HIM!
MAURIZIO SARRI freely admits Jose Mourinho is a better coach than him. Sarri reckons Mourinho’s glittering CV means there is no comparison between the Chelsea managers past and present who will meet for the first time today at Stamford Bridge.
Sarri (above) has breezed into English football and steered transformed Chelsea to second spot while Mourinho’s struggles at Manchester United suggest he is becoming yesterday’s man.
But in a display of humility that was in stark contrast to Mourinho’s egotism, Sarri said: “Of course (he is a better coach than me). “The results speak for him, I think. At the moment he is better than me for sure. “I hope to improve in the future but at the moment I have to say he’s better than me. “He has won everything everywhere so I need to win if I want to compare myself to him.
“At the moment it’s not possible (to compare). You are talking about one of the best coaches in the world while I’m not at the moment one of the best.
“He is really one of the best. Maybe the best. The results are the best. So I think he will be able to win again. Could I match Mourinho? I don’t know. I have won Serie B, Serie C, Serie D, like the Championship, League One and League Two here in England. But now I need to win at this level.”
While Mourinho (above, signing a fan’s shirt) was dominating during his two years in Italian football, culminating in Inter’s historic 2010 treble, Sarri was still finding his way in management in his homeland’s lower leagues.
Asked if he could have imagined back then that one day they would meet as equals, former banker Sarri said: “Probably not. My target, in that period, was to be a professional coach. I didn’t think in that period that I was able to arrive in the Champions League. It was incredible at that moment to think that, so I think I am lucky.
“I think that I am lucky because it’s very difficult to start in a non-professional team and to finish in one of the most important clubs in the world. It’s very difficult. So you need to be lucky.”
Sarri may lack the arrogance of a top coach but claimed there is one quality he has which can’t be questioned.
He added: “Without determination it’s impossible to arrive here from a non-professional team. So I can speak very calmly but my level of determination is the top level.”
And referring to comparisons with his outspoken predecessor, he added: “Our characters are different but maybe the level of determination is the same.”