Jose Mourinho On Emotional Meeting With CR7: Legendary football manager Jose Mourinho opens up about the time he visited Cristiano Ronaldo’s house for an emotional meeting following Real Madrid’s exit in the semi-final of the 2011/12 UEFA Champions League.
Real Madrid in the 2011/12 season was arguably the most dominant side in Europe and one of the few times in that era when they were better than their arch-rivals FC Barcelona. Los Blancos won La Liga that season, scoring a massive 100 points in the league table. They also made it to the final of the Copa Del Rey before losing to Athletico Madrid.
The team, managed by Jose Mourinho, also reached the semi-final of the UEFA Champions League that season, where they faced Bayern Munich. That season had an exciting pair of semi-final matches. While Real and Bayern played one semi-final, the other one was played between Barcelona and Chelsea. There was a chance of the final of the UCL being an El Classico between Barca and Madrid.
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Leg 1 of the semi-final between Bayern Munich and Real Madrid was played in Munich’s Allianz Arena, with the home team coming out on top 2-1. In the second leg, the Spanish side emerged 2-1 winner at the Santiago Bernabeu.
The match ultimately went to penalties, with Bayern emerging winners 3-1. They ended up playing the final against Chelsea, where the English side emerged victorious in the penalties.
Cristiano Ronaldo, one of the two best players on the planet at the time alongside Lionel Messi, missed his penalty in the semi-final. The whole ordeal was a lot for the whole team, which was on the verge of a treble (the Copa Del Rey final had not happened yet).
Jose Mourinho On Emotional Meeting With CR7
Mourinho, who was recently sacked from his latest assignment at Italian club Roma, recently opened up about the phone call he received from Ronaldo’s agent Jorge Mendes after that semi-final loss, he said –
“I cried driving home after the Bayern defeat. It was the only time I did it. Later, I get a call from Jorge Mendes: “Do me a favour: go to Cristiano’s house because he’s dead.”
He continued:
“I told him: “I’m also dead. But I did it, prepare yourself, no tears and let’s go to Cristiano’s house. We were destroyed,” via Madrid Xtra on X.
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Cristiano Ronaldo had not won a Champions League trophy with Madrid at that point in time. He would later go on to cement his legacy at the club, winning four UCL titles with the club. This included winning three in a row from 2016 to 2018.
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