Mourinho aims dig at Spurs for ending ‘double dream’

Matt Stead
Jose Mourinho

Jose Mourinho counts guiding Tottenham to the Carabao Cup final before being sacked shortly ahead of the game against Manchester City as half a trophy.

Mourinho has won 25 league titles and cups during an illustrious managerial career with Porto, Chelsea, Inter Milan, Real Madrid and Manchester United and seemed to have the chance to add Spurs to that list in April.

Tottenham had a bye in the third round against Leyton Orient before putting Chelsea out on penalties and beating Championship teams Stoke and Brentford to reach Wembley.

However, less than a week before the fixture against City, Mourinho was removed from his position as Spurs head coach after just 17 months in charge, with Ryan Mason overseeing a 1-0 defeat against Pep Guardiola’s side.

And in an interview with The Sun, Mourinho, who will take the reins at Serie A side Roma from next season, asserted he is justified in adding to his trophy haul.

He said: “So if you want me to be proactive now you can ask me, ‘how many trophies have you won in your career?’ And I’ll tell you 25 and a half. The half is the final that I didn’t play with Tottenham.

“You ask the guys who played lots of finals and everybody will tell you, ‘to play a final is a dream’ and it doesn’t matter if it is the first final or number 20 or number 50, a final is always a dream.

“A Wembley final is more than a dream, I played the first on the new Wembley and every time I go there, it’s more than a dream and to have a chance to win a trophy with a club that doesn’t have many of course was a double dream.

“I am the kind of guy that when I close the door of a club, I move and I just wish good to people, but in a funny way I would say I have 25 and a half titles because it’s something that marks my career which is not to play a final that I won the right to go there.”