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While the majority of his squad is away on international duty, Jose Mourinho sat down for interviews with Portugal's Rádio e Televisão (RTP) and Realmadrid TV.
"It was the right thing to do"
That was Jose Mourinho's response when asked about not attending January's Ballon d'Or gala during his recent interview with RTP. He explains several people called him beforehand to tell him their World Coach of the Year votes casted for Mou were instead credited to winner, Vicente del Bosque.
More shady FIFA conspiracy? Who knew? FIFA immediately refuted the claim, of course. We can only speculate as to whether anything will come of this, but it adds to a narrative, whether genuine or created, developing between the two managers. Del Bosque followed up his acceptance of the award by denying that the bit about upholding personal ethical conduct in football was directed at Mourinho. They've had a few backs and forths, but saying they have it out for each other sound like grasping at straws, if you ask me.
UPDATED: Former Inter Milan player Goran Pandev said in an interview with La Sexta that he voted for Jose Mourinho but the list FIFA released gave the five points to Del Bosque, three to Mancini and one to Klopp.
On Galatasaray
While sitting with Realmadrid TV, Mourinho shared his thoughts on facing Galatasaray in the Champions League:
I went to Turkey and I found what I had expected: a team of people who know the Champions League very well and which has two players who have won the Champions League, Drogba and Sneijder, people who have played for the best teams, like Eboue for Arsenal, Felipe Melo for Juventus, Riera for Liverpool and Muslera for Lazio… People who know what it is like to play at this level, with a lot of experience, who have a coach who is the best ever in Turkey, and who has also worked in Italy, and a level of support that other teams don’t have. We thought that Dortmund and Manchester were difficult, but this really is tough. They played 700 kilometres from Istanbul and there were 15,000 Galatasaray fans. It will be tough but we need to try to get something positive from the first match, something we didn’t manage against Manchester United. We have to make sure we go there with a small advantage.
Aside from asserting that he is not overlooking the Turkish obstacle lying ahead, Mourinho also took the time to squash the reports that he had anything negative to say about his former assassin, Didier Drogba.
As a player he is out of this world. I would like to have him by my side, so just imagine. It is unthinkable that I would say bad things about Drogba, but at the moment, to appear in the press or be known, anything goes. There is no problem because he knows that the last thing I would do is to say anything negative about my relationship with him.
A Glimpse Into the Mind of Mourinho?
Following the victory at Old Trafford to advance in the UCL, Mourinho gave us yet another opportunity to try and get inside his head with his "the better team lost" comment. Was this a calculated move to get into the Old Trafford's good graces for a future move to Manchester?
There are people who think they can analyse me, get into my head and understand everything I do, but they don't know what I was trying to do with what I said after the match.
So, no more clarity from Jose there. He knows what he knows. And he knows we all want to know what he knows. What's the next move? Will there be a move? In the RTP interview, he reiterated he wouldn't move to France because he has to be able to communicate directly with this players. That still leaves the door open for his anticipated return to England. For the rest of us, we'll just have to wait and see. For better or worse, it's always a spectacle with The Special One.