Mourinho rues not having coached Messi, De Rossi, and Totti

Ex-Roma manager Jose Mourinho has revealed his wish to have coached Lionel Messi, Daniele De Rossi and Francesco Totti.

Before he was sacked by Roma last month, Mourinho discussed with influencer Ohm where he reminisced over his career and shared his greatest memories and regrets, as reported by Football Italia.

“I have many great memories and many bad ones. If I have to choose one, I will go for the most recent. It might not be the most important trophy I have won, but considering the dimension of joy that it brought and because it was the closest, I will say the Conference League at Roma,” the Special one said.

“There were many great things in my career, many fantastic games to remember, and it is impossible to choose just one or two.

“I also have many bad memories, such as losing two Champions League semi-finals on penalties, a Europa League Final lost on penalties because the referee had decided we could not win. There are plenty of bad memories.”

Mourinho on stars he wished he had coached

The ex-Manchester United manager named some great footballers when he was asked the footballers he wished he had worked with.

For example, I never got to train Lionel Messi, but then nobody can train Messi. It is absurd to think you could coach him, because he was born with everything and already knows everything. He might teach you some things. All you could say is that you had the honour of having him in your squad.

“To stay in the Roma theme, I would’ve liked to have De Rossi at Inter and Real Madrid, but it was not possible. I also wanted Totti at Inter, despite his age at the time, but it was not possible either. These are players I always wanted in my career.”

Jose Mourinho was sacked by Roma on January 16, 2024, after two-and-half years in charge of the club. He was replaced by former Roma captain Daniele De Rossi, the very Roma player the Special One wished he’d coached.