Jose Mourinho is not one to usually be bogged down by a defeat and often cuts a defiant figure to the media when his side ends up empty-handed.
Even during his short spell at Tottenham, he has typically come out fighting in the post-match press conference, never short of reasons (or excuses in some people’s eyes) for the defeat (The Sun).
However, the Spurs head coach has opened up on the one occasion when a defeat left him unable to control his emotions.
He revealed that he was left in tears when his Real Madrid side lost on penalties to Bayern Munich in the 2012 Champions League semi-final.
Real Madrid lost the first leg at the Allianz Arena 2-1 but two goals from Cristiano Ronaldo within fourteen minutes saw his side turn the tie around.
However, Arjen Robben struck from the penalty spot to level things up at 3-3 on aggregate, which meant the game had to be decided from twelve yards.
Ronaldo, Kaka and Sergio Ramos all missed from the spot helping Bayern reach the final where they were beaten by Chelsea, which consequently meant that Spurs missed on Champions League qualification the next season despite finishing in fourth place in the Premier League.
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Recalling that fateful night at the Santiago Bernabeu, Mourinho told Marca: “Unfortunately, that’s football. Cristiano, Kaka, Sergio Ramos… three complete monsters of football, there’s no doubt about that, but they’re also human.
“That night is the only time in my career as a coach that I’ve cried after a defeat. I remember it well… Aitor [Karanka, Madrid assistant at the time] and I pulled up in front of my house, in the car, crying.
“It was very hard because we were the best that season.”
Spurs Web Opinion
Jose Mourinho often doesn’t get the credit he deserves for the work he did at Madrid. When the Spurs boss arrived at the Spanish capital, Madrid hadn’t reached a Champions League quarterfinal for a really long time. He went really close to winning the competition on a couple of occasions and also won the La Liga title beating what was arguably Barcelona’s greatest side ever.
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