Jose Mourinho is often regarded as one of most successful manager in the world. The Portuguese has won trophies in four countries, most notably winning the ‘Treble’ with Inter in 2010. But the current Manchester United boss is also known to be ruthless when it comes to dropping players in his quest for trophies.
His incredible management record has always depended on the unstinting loyalty of his players and he prefers a certain mold of footballers .If the player does not fit his requirements, he’s considered deadwood and shown the door. Many big players have been the victim of The Special one’s “My way or the highway” philosophy.
If there’s one man who perfectly understands the meaning of “Actions speak louder than words” it’s Jose Mourinho. The Portuguese lets his actions do the talking when it comes to sending a message to the player. His latest stints at Chelsea and Real Madrid are full of instances where Mourinho made,as he likes to call it, “a tactical decision”, and kept an important player on the bench.
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Be it a captain or a legend, ”The Special One” does not spare anyone. We list here 5-star players who were dropped by Mourinho.
#1 Juan Mata
Juan Mata is maybe the most unfortunate footballer in this list. Mata must be having a sense of deja vu about events at Chelsea three years ago. The Spaniard was the Blue’s two-time Player of the Year before the arrival of Mourinho in 2013. He had provided 25 assists and 18 goals in his two seasons at Stamford Bridge and was a fan favourite.
Things went downhill for Mata after the arrival of the Portuguese as Mourinho clearly indicated that the Spaniard was not in his plans. Mata started just five EPL games up to December and didn’t complete 90 minutes in any of those games. Six months after Mourinho took over at Chelsea, Mata looked a mere shadow of himself. He managed only 2 assists and not a single goal and was left on the sidelines for the better part of the season. Eventually, Mata left the club in January to join Manchester United and the 28-year-old later revealed that he had no relationship with Mourinho at Chelsea.
Three years later, things look grim for the Spaniard again as he was substituted on and off in just under 27 minutes in his club's Community Shield win over Leicester City.
Also Read: 5 players who came on as substitutes and were taken off in the same game
#2 Iker Casillas
Iker Casillas was the number one choice between the sticks for the Los Blancos when Mourinho took over from Manuel Pellegrini. Initially, the manager and the keeper had a good working relationship at the start bu things went sour in their second season together.
In a Spanish Super Cup clash against Barcelona, Casillas tried to speak with Xavi and Puyol in order to smoothen things between Real Madrid and Barcelona players. Mourinho reacted badly to this gesture from the Spaniard and things started deteriorating between the two. Mourinho dropped Casillas and decided to start with reserve keeper Antonio Adan in a La Liga game against Malaga, in which Real lost 2-3.
The Spaniard was left out of the starting lineup again in the next game against Real Sociedad but came off the bench when Adan was sent off. The Portuguese saw Casillas as a 'mole', a 'traitor' and warned the club president Fiorentino Perez against Casillas's influence in the dressing room. The fallout with Mourinho was marked as the beginning of the end for the shot-stopper as fans turned against him in the subsequent years and he was often booed by a section of Madridistas in his last season. The 2010 World Cup winner eventually left the club in 2015 and joined Porto.
#3 Sergio Ramos
The third Spain international on the list, Sergio Ramos was one of the senior Real Madrid players who fell out with the Portuguese coach in his final year at Santiago Bernabeu. Ramos questioned the tactics and methods employed by “The Special One” . In response, Mourinho warned Fiorentino Perez about the increasing influence of Ramos and Casillas on the squad and suggested that it could ultimately undermine the authority of the president.
The former Sevilla man was left warming the bench against the Los Blancos’ 3-2 win over Manchester City. Many believed this happened due to a pre-match bust up between Ramos and Mourinho. Mourinho, as usual, maintained that the decision to drop Ramos was a “tactical decision”.
Their relationship reached the lowest point when the defender was blamed by Mourinho for their Champions League semi-final loss to Borussia Dortmund. Ramos blamed Mourinho’s tactics for the loss.Reports suggested that even after leaving the club, Mourinho made it known to his replacement Carlo Ancelotti that Ramos should be ‘marginalised’.
#4 John Terry
John Terry is one of the most respected figures at Stanford Bridge. Terry played every minute of Chelsea’s title winning season in 2014-15 and became only the second outfield player to do so.However, the Center Back endured a difficult start to the next season. He was substituted at halftime at Etihad during Chelsea’s 3-0 loss to Machester City.This was the first time in 177 Premier League games that Mourinho substituted Terry.
He was again dropped to the bench in a Champions League match against Maccabi Tel Aviv. The trend continued in the following months and young centre-back Kurt Zouma was preferred over the Englishman. Chelsea fans turned against Mourinho for dropping their leader. Terry was warming the bench in the win against Porto in Champions League.He came out briefly for the warm up after the game and fans started chanting “We want our captain back”. Eventually, the whole dressing room turned against Mourinho and he was shown the door in December.
#5 Eden Hazard
Not many managers would dare to drop the reigning PFA Player of the season when you desperately need a win. But again, Mourinho isn’t like other managers. Eden Hazard was instrumental in Chelsea’s title chase in the 2014-15 season as the winger scored 14 goals and assisted 9 and helped the Blues bring back the Premier League trophy to Stamford Bridge.
But a dip in the form next season meant Hazard was an easy target for Mourinho to send a message to the players who were underperforming. Chelsea needed to get back to winning ways against Aston Villa after a difficult start to the season in which they managed to win only two games till October. Mourinho decided to keep Hazard on the bench and preferred the youngster Ruben Loftus-Cheek in the starting lineup.
This was the first time in 18 months that the Belgian had to watch the game from the dugout. The winger had started 47 consecutive games before the clash against Villa. He was brought in for the last 7 minutes of the game but by that time the job was done as Chelsea were leading 2-0.
Mourinho justified his decision to drop Hazard claiming that “they were giving away a lot of goals and they needed defensive discipline”. But Hazard’s demotion to the bench meant that The Special One made a statement that whoever fails to meet his demand will face the consequences.
