O’Neill’s hearty praise for Mourinho as rivals heal rift

ASTON VILLA manager Martin O’Neill insists it’s far too late for him to change his animated style in the dugout, despite Jose Mourinho’s quip that the former Celtic boss may be a candidate for a heart attack if he fails to calm down.

O’Neill was jumping up and down, all fist-pumping passion on the touchline as he watched his side claim a creditable point at Stamford Bridge.

Gabriel Agbonlahor’s glancing header, moments before the interval, cancelled out Didier Drogba’s third minute opener, and maintained Villa’s impressive unbeaten start in this year’s Premiership. The two managers, meeting for the first time since Celtic’s 3-2 defeat to Mourinho’s Porto in the 2003 UEFA Cup final, embraced at the final whistle when Mourinho offered the advice to his adversary. O’Neill felt the moment represented an end to the friction between the pair which had existed since the former Celtic manager expressed his “embarrassment” at the play-acting and unsporting behaviour of the Porto players in the closing stages of their narrow victory in Seville.

“He’s been terrific, really. Whatever you say, he’s really been terrific,” said O’Neill, “He’s had lots of money to spend on big players [at Chelsea], but you still have to manage them, and you have to manage all that expectation, all that pressure.

“It’s still difficult. You’re trying to keep people happy and you’re trying to contest on every front. He’s trying to win the Champions League and a third consecutive championship. I have the utmost admiration for him.

“As for the jumping around, well I’m afraid that’s me, honestly. I’ll just take one massive big woof and I shall be gone! Jose said that maybe I’d trigger a heart attack. And he may well be right!

“But then he had been jumping too, absolutely! And when it looked as if he had scored a goal, you know, the one that came off the crossbar, I saw this figure right in front of me and it was the wee man himself.”

Opta Fact: Didier Drogba’s goal was Chelsea’s 500th in Premiership history at Stamford Bridge.

Opta Fact: Villa are unbeaten in their last eight league matches.