Jose Mourinho arrived at Benfica’s Seixal training ground for the first time in style.
The 2010 European treble winner has returned to his first ever club, signing a two-year deal with a get-out clause after the first season and insisted no previous role has ‘motivated me more than being Benfica’s coach’.
The Benfica Campus didn’t exist back in 2000 when Mourinho was first named Benfica head coach, a job he only lasted 11 matches in.
Plenty has changed since then, including his bank balance, but he arrived in one of his most expensive possessions that was in fact a gift.
The former Porto, Real Madrid and Inter Milan manager turned up in a Ferrari 612 Scaglietti, reportedly gifted to him by Roman Abramovich in 2007.
Speaking to the media, and in particularly the fans at his unveiling, Mourinho said: “I have so many emotions, but experience helps me control them.
“I want to thank you for your trust. Being Portuguese, there’s obviously no one who isn’t familiar with the history and culture of the Benfica nation and this club, but I want to make it clear that I have to be able to block out all these emotions and view Benfica in a very simplistic way.
“I’m the coach of one of the biggest clubs in the world! I want to focus on this mission, focusing not on the difficulty but on the pleasure of a coach’s job, focusing on something exciting.
“It’s been 25 years, but I’m not here to celebrate my career. It’s been 25 years in which I’ve had the opportunity to work for the biggest clubs in the world. I want to tell you, as a representative of Benfica fans, that none of the clubs I’ve had the opportunity to coach have motivated me more than being Benfica’s coach.
“The promise is clear: I will live for Benfica, for my mission. It’s a tremendous honour.”
Mourinho spoke after parking up in his Ferrari, a vintage car that was a present six months after he was sacked by former Chelsea owner Abramovich after his first glory-filled stint in London.
The classic Ferrari was also worth £250,000 at the time, and has likely only gone up in value given the boom of the classic car market.
Mourinho’s last game was against Benfica with Fenerbahce, where he was knocked out of the Champions League in the final qualifying stageGetty Mourinho is now back in red in an astonishing turnaroundAFPThat expensive apology from Abramovich seemed to work, as Mourinho was only too happy to return to Chelsea six years later, winning a third of three Premier League titles at Stamford Bridge.
Mourinho lays into Fenerbahce
Benfica are now the second team that the 62-year-old coaching great has returned to, coming after a trophyless stint with Fenerbahce which he looked back on in brutal fashion.
“My career has been rich, I’ve coached in different countries, I made the wrong choice, but I have no regrets,” he said of his time in Turkey.
“I made a mistake going to Fenerbahce, but I gave everything until the last day. Coaching Benfica is returning to my level.”
Upon landing back in Lisbon a mere three weeks after being sacked by Fenerbahce, he said: “If I return to Benfica, it won’t be a career celebration, nor because it’s 25 years later, nor a return home.
“I didn’t want to say yes to a club that wasn’t the right one, just because I’m a workaholic.
“When I was faced with the possibility of coaching Benfica, I didn’t think twice about it, saying, ‘I’m interested, I’d like it’.
“In my mind as a natural consequence for my career would be to return to Portugal one day to coach the national team.
The Portuguese boss returns to Benfica after 25 years awayAFP via Getty“If this happens with Benfica… Who is the coach who says no to Benfica? Not me.”
After his short initial stint with the Eagles, Mourinho spent a year with Uniao de Leiria in his home country then quickly got back to the big time with Porto.
There he announced himself as a generational coach, winning two league titles, a Europa League, and most famously the Champions League in 2004.
Porto are the only team outside of Europe’s big five leagues to have won club football’s grandest competition in the past 30 years.
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