1. 2005: Mourinho turns on Vercauteren
September 2005: Anderlecht faces the English champion in the C1 group stage. Frankie Vercauteren’s team will finish last, behind Chelsea, Liverpool and Betis. The Blues are coached by the winner of the Champions League (2004) who has just offered a second national title to the Londoners (2005).
quotation markAfter our goal, we waited for Anderlecht… who never came.
They win 1-0 on a free kick from Lampard and, after the match, José already does Mourinho, lighting up Vercauteren: “The show? People pay to see victories. We played a good game. After the goal, we waited for Anderlecht… who never came. They just had a shot hit the post by chance. I thought I would see Wilhemsson and Jestrovic come on earlier.” Vercauteren will answer: “He didn’t see Anderlecht? We didn’t see Chelsea either after his goal.” Chelsea will win the return 2-0.
2. 2010: the poster signed by D’Onofrio
For Standard and its fans, it was much more than an August friendly. A gala match with European flair against a Real Madrid newly coached by Mourinho. An unthinkable match today for a Belgian club and set up thanks to the Iberian connections of Lucien D’Onofrio, who knew the “Special One” from his Portuguese period. Cristiano Ronaldo, Casillas, Sergio Ramos, Benzema and Di Maria thrilled a Sclessin delighted to see Benteke make it 1-1.
Mourinho will acknowledge that he “rest of the work” for his team and will have to wait until 2012 to win La Liga.
3. 2013: The love story of the “Mister” with Lukaku
Returning to Chelsea in the summer of 2013, the ‘Special One’ is asked about Lukaku and De Bruyne, who were loaned to WBA and Werder Bremen the previous season.These are players in whom the club has invested a lot. It is now up to me to make this financial effort bear fruit at the sporting level..” Which he will not be able to do with KDB, unlike Lukaku, who has formed a special bond in a second phase.
That summer, “Big Rom” was finally loaned to Everton. Mourinho regretted it and brought the striker to Manchester United in 2017. Then the two men met again at Roma in 2023-24. Mourinho, who played Lukaku 101 times, would never stop defending the man who was criticized by Inter fans following his departure: “Lukaku moves from Inter to Roma to help his ‘Mister’ (Editor’s note: the coach, in Italian), it’s a drama. Cannavaro going from Inter to Juve, no problem. I didn’t think he was so important in the heart of Inter, I’m surprised” he said ironically.
4. 2013: King Baudouin’s whistles
The relationship with KDB was more complicated. After three appearances in the first five days of 2013-14, De Bruyne would never again be invited onto the pitch in the league. A boycott that the Belgian public did not understand: when Mourinho’s presence at the Red Devils’ friendly against Colombia was revealed on the giant screen at the King Baudouin Stadium, a chorus of whistles rang out.
quotation markDe Bruyne was just a kid who can’t wait.
De Bruyne will remain one of Mourinho’s biggest flops, who will defend himself: “When you are at Chelsea, and you want to leave, someone else will take your place. They (Editor’s note: KDB and Mo Salah, who experienced a similar situation) were just kids who couldn’t wait and their careers showed they were right. But it wasn’t my fault.“
5. 2014: in Waregem, not so incognito
A few months later, Mourinho is back in the Belgian stands, to watch Thorgan Hazard play, on loan at Zulte Waregem.I was and still am a big fan of Mourinho and this is the first time I met him“, David Steegen, former communications director of Anderlecht, who faced Essevee that day in May 2014, tells us today.
“It was a bit crazy to have Mourinho sitting in the stands, in a stadium like that.. Everyone came up to him to ask for an autograph or a photo. A person from Zulte Waregem was supposed to take care of him… but didn’t speak English very well, so I played the role of translator..”
6. 2014: Courtois rather than Cech
Loaned by Chelsea to Atlético Madrid since 2011, Thibaut Courtois wants to be settled, in the summer of 2014. Already endowed with a strong character, the fresh Spanish champion declared in an interview with the BBC that he would return to Chelsea if a starting position awaited him, in order to avoid a harmful situation for Petr Cech and himself. While the Czech is expected to remain number 1, Mourinho asks his management to bring back the Limburger to be a starter. A few months later, Chelsea are once again English champions: “Courtois is a phenomenon” he will declare.
7. 2017: Weiler’s salary and bravos to the purple public
It was probably Anderlecht’s last moment of glory on the European stage: a Europa League quarter-final at Old Trafford, where René Weiler’s Anderlecht held their own against Mourinho’s ManU, to the point of only cracking in extra time.
In the first leg, David Steegen was able to speak with Mourinho before the coach’s press conference: “We were discussing football and the media in the visitors’ dressing room. I asked him if his habit of making big statements to journalists was like a game and he replied that he saw the media as an opportunity for a coach..” Mourinho has never hesitated to use it to get his messages across.
“I remember he asked about the salary of the Anderlecht coach at that time. I told him it was something like €600-700,000 and he told me his assistant earned more. But it wasn’t contemptuous, on the contrary, it was a way of saluting the work of Sporting. He said he had the greatest respect for clubs like Anderlecht capable of challenging giants like Manchester.”
At the end of the second leg, Mourinho went to greet the Anderlecht supporters and said in a press conference that he had appreciated their support… in what looked furiously like a message to those of United, very calm, that evening.
8. Eden Hazard: Protector and Detractor
Between 2013 and 2016, Mourinho played Eden Hazard 125 times in official matches. Already in 2015, he had these words to try to protect the best player in the Premier League: “Eden is resisting the blows for the moment. But if he is not protected by the referees, I think that a day will come when the world of football will no longer be able to enjoy him. There is a problem with the way he is being treated.”
quotation markWhen you see Eden on the field, you don’t see the reflection of a week’s work, but of his talent.
A few years later, during Euro 2021, he was harsher on the Brainois: “He is an extraordinary player, but terrible in training. When he comes on the pitch, you don’t see the reflection of a week’s work, but only his talent. Imagine what he could have been if he had been more professional in training..”
9. 2016: with Fellaini: “I love you, me too”
With his profile that moves in the middle and knows how to play football, Marouane Fellaini was very appreciated by Mourinho. Whistled by the Old Trafford crowd in December 2016, a few days after having committed a penalty, he had received the support of Mourinho: “I dedicate this victory to Marouane. Because he deserves it. He cost us two points last week, but he remains an important player for me..”
A defense that Big Mo did not forget, assuring when Mourinho was threatened that “all players believe in him […] we have the right coach“At the end of 2019, the Portuguese even tried to bring the Belgian back to United, but Fellaini preferred to stay in China.
10. 2020: defeat and mask
In the midst of Covid 2020, visiting Antwerp with Tottenham in the Europa League, Mourinho did not fail to greet Lucien D’Onofrio, then shadow sporting director at the Great Old: “I know Luciano is very important for Antwerp and it’s an honour to play against his team. I’m looking forward to it.“
He will be less smiling the next day, after losing 1-0 this group match against the Leko team. On Instagram, he will post this message: “Bad performance breeds bad results. I hope everyone on this bus is as angry as I am. Practice tomorrow at 11am“In the return leg, Tottenham won 2-0.
