Former Inter chiefs Massimo Moratti and Marco Tronchetti Provera revealed how Jose Mourinho was chosen and why he was “lying down in tears on the team bus.”
The Festival dello Sport event was an opportunity for several figures from that 2010 Treble-winning campaign to get together and swap stories on stage, including how current Manchester United manager Mou ended up in Milan.
Former Inter chiefs Massimo Moratti and Marco Tronchetti Provera revealed how Jose Mourinho was chosen and why he was “lying down in tears on the team bus.”
The Festival dello Sport event was an opportunity for several figures from that 2010 Treble-winning campaign to get together and swap stories on stage, including how current Manchester United manager Mou ended up in Milan.
“Mourinho stuck in my mind not for his Champions League victory with Porto, but for an interview he gave two years earlier after a draw with Deportivo La Coruna,” explained former President Moratti.
“The reporters asked him about the second leg and he replied: ‘What game? I am already thinking about the Final.’ When I heard that response, I thought: now he’s great.”
Before the Champions League triumph, Inter won the Scudetto with a hard-fought victory away to Siena.
“Straight after the game with Siena, I was looking for Mourinho and couldn’t find him anywhere,” revealed ex-director Tronchetti Provera.
“He had completely disappeared. In the end, I found him lying down in tears on the team bus, on his own. He was completely burnt out.
“We won the Champions League really in the semi-final with Barcelona. We went into the Final calm and confident, because we had already achieved something extraordinary.
“That was where we realised we could win the Champions League, with the roar of the San Siro crowd.”