Mourinho: “Roma are a great club even without winning”

It is a different José Mourinho, more calm and intimate, what he recounts, in his chat at the Pontifical Gregorian University with the Cardinal Jose Tolentino de Mendoncawhen as a professor he taught a class of kids with Down syndrome for two years, and which he defines Pope francesco “one of us” and who then tackled the theme of the “cruelty” of top-level sport. Nothing current, except at the end, thanking the fans of Rome and reiterating how local communication “attempts to divide”. But with Cardinal Tolentino we start from the importance of sport as a form of school of life and here the Special One tells of his philosophy professor who forty years later he still does not forget. “Talking about my job he said to me” you are not a coach of football players, but of boys who play football “. This helped me a lot, because love is the basis of everything”.

Mourinho: ‘Football is cruel’

His world, however, that of top-level sport, is something else. “Unfortunately it’s the place we wouldn’t want for our children – he explains – It’s a cruel world, where there’s no room for the weakest. And the first to lead the kids towards this cruelty are the parents with their ambitions”. It’s a different matter when he talks about grassroots sports where “you grow a lot – she adds – and maybe even more than inside your own home”. There is no shortage of advice for the youngsters, also in front of the minister for sport and for young people, Andrea Abodifrom whom Mourinho says he “learns a lot”, also recalling how “the future belongs to everyone because to grow you also need the advice of those with white hair”.

“Pope Francis one of us, a grandfather”

The introspective journey of the Giallorossi coach then continues through his fragility and the search for the definition of “failure” which he still manages to find at the age of 60. However, he takes the applause of the Aula Magna when Cardinal Tolentino asks him what strikes him about Pope Francis. “I will use a footballing expression, hoping not to be disrespectful: but he is not only” His Holiness of him “of him he is one of us, a grandfather”. Standing ovation from those present and then continues: “Many times I walk around St. Peter’s Square and I think he can greet me from the window. I’ve never met him personally, but if one day I had to do so I think my reaction would be to want a hug” .

Mourinho: “You can be a great club even without winning”

More applause that warms up José who only concedes an exception in the final stages when speaking of his team. “You can be a great club even without winning, but having a social impact and Roma have this beauty.” A declaration of love in which he rejects the sender’s attempts by local communication to divide and thanking the fans “for everything you have given me in this time”. He words that sounded like a farewell to some, to others as a simple form of respect for a square that has loved him since the day of his arrival. In a couple of months he will know more.