Respectful Jose happy to follow the master

Jose Mourinho has set himself a target of following in Alex Ferguson’s footsteps by managing well into his 70s; so perhaps that is why he avoided the temptation to turn yesterday’s pre-match press conference into his usual fireworks display.

Just when the world was expecting the Special One to hog the limelight and entertain the hordes of reporters and television crews who had come to Manchester to hang on his every word, he chose to turn the event into rather a damp squib instead.

The Real Madrid manager, who has often been tipped as a long-term successor to Ferguson when the Scotsman eventually decides to quit, was almost at pains to calm the hype that has turned tonight’s match into one of the most keenly awaited in recent history.

When he returned to Chelsea with Inter Milan, the Portuguese lounged around in the press room with cup of tea in hand, joking with reporters and holding court with anyone who would listen; but it was a very different scene in the Europa Suite at Old Trafford last night.

Mourinho, looking sullen and at times disinterested, went through the motions but was almost deliberately detached. Maybe he wanted to avoid the fixture, Cristiano Ronaldo’s much-vaunted return to England, becoming too friendly; maybe he wanted to avoid questions about his future, maybe he was just keen to take the heat out of a match that could define what may well be his last season at Real Madrid.

But it was only when a reporter, congratulating him on his recent 50th birthday celebrations, asked could he ever imagine managing into his 70s as Ferguson has done that Mourinho even woke up.

“I imagine, yes,” he enthused. “Because I think it is the kind of job the older you are, the better you are. The experiences we live and the thoughts we give to our experiences makes you better.

“So I would love that God gives me health so that I can do it. But Sir Alex is unique and I don’t have any words that can add to what everybody thinks about him and the respect he deserves from everybody.”

If Mourinho had one eye on proving to United that he could be as curmudgeonly and difficult in a press conference as the current incumbent at Old Trafford then he got it just about right; and even when offered a chance to rub in his excellent record against United with previous clubs, he refused to accept the baton.

“Against United I won, I lost, I drew,” he shrugged. “The last time I came here and I lost with Inter in the Champions League. So I have everything against Man U. I don’t know how many times I came here, with Porto, with Chelsea, with Inter, for the Premier League, the FA Cup the Carling Cup. But I don’t care about what records I have. What I care about in this moment is that tomorrow is the kind of match where everything can happen. I know football and big matches well enough to know tomorrow we can go through or we can go out.”

The first time Mourinho took a team to Old Trafford, a goal from Costinha in the last seconds earned Porto a 3-2 aggregate win on their way to the Champions League final; but having taken so much effort to appear controlled and understated in his pre-match press conference, he has also promised there will be no repeat of his memorable celebration jig along the touchline in 2004 if he masterminds another famous result in 2013.

“It means the same but I live the situation with a different approach now, with different emotions,” he insisted. “If I win a big match, it’s the same now as nine years ago. To lose is the same; but the approach is completely different.

“That match was my first season playing Champions League football. Now I have more than 100 matches and I think I can control my emotions a different way. If I lose, I don’t cry and if I win, I don’t run 100 metres.”

It’s a strange and unrecognisable beast this new, socially withdrawn and uncontroversial Mourinho; and make no mistake, it won’t last long if things go wrong at Old Trafford.

Nor was United’s current manager in the mood to offer up his job to the Special One as a sacrificial offering, even the new respectable version.

“You get this question all the time and I can’t answer it because I am still the manager here,” he said poignantly. “I hope I am still the manager tomorrow! It is impossible to discuss who is going to replace me because there is no time scale to it.”

Point taken, Fergie. But then, if he is true to his word, Mourinho will be around for another 20 years if you change your mind...