One thing that Jose Mourinho’s haters and fans must admit is that the Chelsea FC boss is always honest. He tells you whether he respects an opponent or dislikes him or if he thinks they are specialists in failure. This season he has been at odds with managers Arsene Wenger and Manuel Pellegrini. He has taken shots at players like David Luiz but apparently has a soft spot for Liverpool’s Steven Gerrard.
Ahead of this Sunday’s clash with Liverpool, Mourinho revealed that he has tried to sign Steven Gerrard three times. Once at Chelsea FC, once at Inter Milan, and most recently at Real Madrid. Everyone knows about Chelsea FC’s bid for the Liverpool captain into 2005 but the other two bids come as a surprise.
The rumored move to Chelsea FC reportedly fell apart because of the death threats that Gerrard received from Liverpool faithful. So much for loving and respecting your captain but who knows how Chelsea fans would have reacted if John Terry made the move to Arsenal or Manchester United in the prime of his career.
Mourinho said of Gerrard, as quoted in Sky Sports, “Steven Gerrard is for sure one of my favourite enemies – an enemy with all the good feeling I can express with that word in football. For sure, in England he is my dear enemy. For sure, he is the one that made me a better manager. To stop him or try and stop him has been very, very difficult.”
Then Mourinho made the big reveal and said, “I tried to bring him to Chelsea, I tried to bring him to Inter (Milan), I tried to bring him to Real Madrid but he was always a dear enemy”.
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He continued and said that he wants to honor Steven Gerrard for what he has done as a player with some sort of tribute at Stamford Bridge and that he hopes the crowd feels the same. Earlier this season when Chelsea and Liverpool faced off in the Capital One Cup, Mourinho asked the fans not to sing their famous chant about Gerrard slipping and losing the title.
Unfortunately for Mourinho the Chelsea fans did not oblige and made sure that Gerrard heard their song again and again. As much as Mourinho might respect and admire the Liverpool captain, the fans at Stamford Bridge are unlikely to share that sentiment. They may hold off on singing the songs because Chelsea have won the title this season but a smart man would not bet on that outcome.
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