Remembering Jose Mourinho's 'Football Heritage' Rant When Man Utd Last Faced Sevilla

When Manchester United were dumped out of the Champions League by Sevilla just under two-and-a-half years ago, it was one of the lowest points of Jose Mourinho’s time at Old Trafford.

Having drawn 0-0 in the first leg in Spain largely - thanks to crucial saves from David de Gea - United were completely devoid of creative spark when the onus was on them to play on the front foot in the return leg in Manchester.

Chants of ‘attack, attack, attack’ rang out around Old Trafford. But it was Sevilla who scored first…and second. Two away goals from substitute Wissam Ben Yedder with a little over 10 minutes to play meant United needed three without reply to go through.

They only got one of them when Romelu Lukaku managed a consolation. Bizarrely, United clicked into life once they were 2-0 down at home against what should have been an inferior side.

At a press conference three days later, Mourinho addressed the criticisms. Honest self-reflection and admitting flaws is not exactly part of the ‘Mourinho’ brand, so instead he attacked the club’s ‘football heritage’ in a remarkable 12-minute tirade.

In Mourinho’s eyes, the club with 20 English league titles didn’t have ‘football heritage’ as evidenced by a relatively poor display in European competition since 2011. His argument was that the disappointment of losing to Sevilla should be nothing new given that United had only won one Champions League knockout tie in the seven-year period he was specifically focusing on.

“2012, out in the group phase. In 2013, out at Old Trafford in the last 16, I was on the other bench,” he said, highlighting his own success over United as Real Madrid manager.

“In 2014, out in the quarter-final. In 2015, no European football. In 2016, back to European football, out in the group phase, goes to Europa League and on the second knockout out of the Europa League,” the Portuguese continued.

“In 2017, play Europa League, win Europa League with me and goes back to Champions League. In 2018, win the group phase with 15 points out of a possible 18 and loses at home in the last 16.”

Mourinho went on to blast the state of the United side he had inherited in 2016, insisting that whoever took it over after him would be in a much better position – given the overhaul that is currently ongoing under Ole Gunnar Solskjaer that has proven not to have been the case.

He even suggested that Manchester City’s ‘heritage’ was superior because of three titles and two second place finishes in seven seasons, as well as investment on quality players that pre-dated Mourinho’s arrival at Old Trafford.

“In the last seven years the worst position of Manchester City in the Premier League was fourth. In the last seven years, Manchester City was champions twice and if you want, say three times. They were second twice. That's heritage,” he said.

“Do you know what is also heritage? [Nicolas] Otamendi, Kevin De Bruyne, Fernandinho, [David] Silva, [Raheem] Sterling, [Sergio] Aguero. They are investments from the past, not from the last two years.”

Mourinho also pointed to players that he had shipped out at United in 2017 and rhetorically asked gathered reporters where those individuals were now, trying to drive home his belief that he had inherited a mess and was turning things around.

“One day when I leave, the next Manchester United manager will find [Romelu] Lukaku, [Nemanja] Matic and [David] De Gea from many years ago. They will find players with a different mentality, quality, background, with a different status, know-how.

“The reality is that some clubs were ready to win. Other clubs are not ready to win. One thing is to go for the jugular and another is to build a different process.”

It was arguably the beginning of the end of his time at United.

Mourinho was laying the foundations for the summer that followed. He expected major investment in transfers to bridge the 18-point gap to Manchester City. It didn’t happen, with club officials disagreeing with his chosen targets and United making only one proper first-team signing.

The manager cut a grumpy figure throughout pre-season and within a few weeks of the 2018/19 season beginning it was clear that his position was becoming increasingly untenable. He was sacked in December 2018 off the back of a run of one win in six league games and with United sixth.

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