1. 2005: Mourinho turns on Vercauteren
September 2005: Anderlecht faced the English champion in the C1 group. 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).
gullAfter our goal, we waited for Anderlecht… who never came.
They win 1-0 on a free kick from Lampard and, after the match, José is already doing Mourinho, lighting up Vercauteren: “The show? People pay to see victories. We had a good match. After the goal, we waited for Anderlecht… who never came. They just had a shot on the post by chance. I thought I would see Wilhemsson and Jestrovic come up sooner.” Vercauteren will reply: “He hasn’t seen Anderlecht? We didn’t see Chelsea after their goal either.” Chelsea will win the return 2-0.
2. 2010: the poster signed D’Onofrio
For Standard and its fans, it was much more than an August friendly. A gala match with a European feel against a Real Madrid newly coached by Mourinho. An unthinkable poster today for a Belgian club and put together 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 thrill a Sclessin delighted to see Benteke make it 1-1.
Mourinho will admit 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 “Mister” with Lukaku
Returning to Chelsea in the summer of 2013, the “Special One” was asked about Lukaku and De Bruyne, 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 succeed in doing with KDB, unlike Lukaku, who formed a special bond subsequently.
That summer, “Big Rom” was finally loaned to Everton. Mourinho regrets this and will bring the striker to Manchester United in 2017. Then the two men will meet again at Roma in 2023-24. Mourinho, who played Lukaku 101 times, will never stop defending the one who was criticized by Inter supporters following his departure: “Lukaku who moves from Inter to Roma to help his ‘Mister’ (Editor’s note: the coach, in Italian), it’s a tragedy. Cannavaro moving from Inter to Juve, no problem. I didn’t think he was so important in the hearts of Inter, I’m surprised“, he quipped.
4. 2013: the whistles of King Baudouin
The relationship was more complicated with KDB. After three appearances in the first five days of 2013-14, De Bruyne will never again be invited to take the field in the championship. A boycott that the Belgian public does not understand: when Mourinho’s presence in the Devils’ friendly against Colombia is revealed on the giant screen of the King Baudouin stadium, a concert of whistles rings out.
gullDe 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 returned to the Belgian stands, to watch Thorgan Hazard, loaned to Zulte Waregem, evolve. “I was and still am a big fan of Mourinho and this is the first time I met him“, tells us today David Steegen, former communications director of Anderlecht, who faced Essevee that day in May 2014.
“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. Someone from Zulte Waregem was supposed to take care of him… but didn’t speak English too well, so I acted as 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 an assertive character, the fresh champion of Spain declares in an interview with the BBC that he will return to Chelsea if a starting position awaits him, just 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 the starter. A few months later, Chelsea were champions of England again: “Courtois is a phenomenon“, he will declare.
7. 2017: Weiler’s salary and congratulations to the purple public
This is probably Anderlecht’s last moment of glory on the European scene: a quarter-final of the Europa League, at Old Trafford, where René Weiler’s Anderlecht held up to Mourinho’s ManU, to the point of only cracking ‘in overtime.
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 visiting locker 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 never hesitated to use it to get his messages across.
“I remember he asked the salary of the Anderlecht coach at that time. I told him that it was something like €600-700,000 and he told me that his assistant earned more. But it was not 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 will greet the Anderlecht supporters and say at a press conference that he appreciated their support… in what looked very much like a message to those of United, who were 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 a day will come when the world of football will no longer be able to benefit from him. There is a problem with his treatment.”
gullWhen we see Eden on the pitch, we don’t see the reflection of a week of work, but of her talent.
A few years later, during Euro 2021, he was harsher towards the Brainois: “He’s an extraordinary player, but terrible in training. When he arrives on the field, we don’t see the reflection of a week’s work, but only of his talent. Imagine what he could have been like by being more professional in training.”
9. 2016: with Fellaini: “I love you, too”
With his profile that moves into the middle and knows how to play football, Marouane Fellaini was very popular with Mourinho. Whistled by the Old Trafford crowd in December 2016, a few days after committing a penalty, he 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, ensuring when Mourinho was threatened that “all the 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 middle of Covid 2020, visiting Antwerp with Tottenham in the Europa League, Mourinho will not fail to greet Lucien D’Onofrio, then shadow sports director at the Great Old: “I know Luciano is very important for Antwerp and it’s an honor to face his team. I’m looking forward to it.“
He will be less smiling the next day, after losing this group match 1-0 against the Leko team. On Instagram, he will post this message: “Bad performance begets bad results. I hope everyone on this bus is as angry as I am. Training tomorrow at 11 a.m..” On the return leg, Tottenham won 2-0.
