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Over his long and illustrious career, former Manchester United manager Jose Mourinho has come to be known for his blockbuster, front page-worthy statements. Be it is iconic 'I think I am a special one' to his comments about former Arsenal great Arsene Wenger being a 'specialist in failure', the Portuguese has had his fair share of such moments.
There was one such rant towards the end of his second season at Old Trafford after they were knocked out of the UEFA Champions League by Sevilla, which was particularly controversial. The explosive 'this is football heritage' defence sent shockwaves through the red half of Manchester due to the statements made by the manager.
'This is football heritage' - Manchester United manager Jose Mourinho's rant
"There is something that I used to call football heritage - I try to translate from my Portuguese, which is almost perfect to my English that is far from perfect. But translation, word by word is something like football heritage and what a manager inherits is something like is that the last time Manchester United won the Champions League, which didn't happen a lot of times, was in 2008. The (last) final was 2011."
Mourinho continued,
"Since 2011, 2012 out in the group phase. The group was almost the same group as we had this season: Benfica, Basel and Galati from Romania. Out in the group phase."
The current Tottenham Hotspur boss believed at the time that due to the Red Devils' poor record in Europe. After claiming that many of the Sevilla players are better than the ones at Old Trafford, Mourinho enlisted the recent history United have had in European competitions, saying,
"In 2013, out at Old Trafford in the last-16. I was in the other bench (as Real Madrid manager). In 2014, out in the quarter-final. In 2015, no European football. In 2016, comes back to European football, out in the group phase, goes to Europa League and on the second knockout out, out of Europa League. On 2017, play Europa League, win Europa League with me and goes back to Champions League. In 2018, win the group phase with 15 points in possible 18 and loses at home the last-16."
His Manchester United side were played off the park on their own turf by Sevilla on that unauspicious night at Old Trafford. With the score still at 0-0, Wissam Ben Yedder came off the bench to score a four-minute brace and send Sevilla to the quarter-finals of the UCL.
Mourinho explained that the fans' expectations were too high, and that Manchester United are used to being eliminated from Europe.
"It means that when you start the process, you are here, you are there, or you are there. It is heritage. It's heritage". And if the fans, that I will always respect, always respect... if the fans... and many of them are the ones you speak with (in the media), many of them are the ones I speak with, or I am very lucky and very unlucky (with you speak to)."
"But the ones that speak with you are very disappointed and the ones I speak with knows what is is football heritage. They know what is a process and know when they arrive.."
And one day when I leave, the next Manchester United manager will find here (Romelu) Lukaku, (Nemanja) Matic, of course (David) De Gea from many years ago, they will find players with a different mentality, with a different quality, with a different background, with a different status, with a different know-how."
That time has come, when the next manager of Manchester United — Ole Gunnar Solskjaer — has taken over the reins of the club to make it a superpower of world football once again. There is no Romelu Lukaku at the club, who could potentially face Manchester United in the final with Inter. However, that isn't the only difference.
This Manchester United side is starkly different from the one that was knocked out by Sevilla. More so, it's not just the players that are not the same, but it's the mentality, the approach, and morale are remarkably different. Many individuals who the Portuguese did not pay much heed to, such as the likes of Anthony Martial and Paul Pogba, are flourishing as pivotal figures for the club.
As Mourinho rightly predicted, the time has come for the next Manchester United manager to face a test identical to the one that he encountered — a European knockout tie with Sevilla. A Sevilla who have been one of the most impressive teams in LaLiga Santander, and have won 24 of their last 25 Europa League knockout ties including finals.
On Sunday night, the real test of football heritage and of how far Manchester United have come awaits them. Should they pass this tricky test, it will be a testament to the work done by Mourinho's successor, Solskjaer, two years after the former's infamous rant.
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