The knockout stage of the Champions League returns this week and, with it, the theatre that Jose Mourinho relishes the most.His triumphs in the competition have doubled as two of the defining moments of a phenomenal career. Shocking Europe with Porto in 2004 made him ‘The Special One’, while returning to the summit with Interin 2010 established him as the greatest managerial winner of his generation.
Even some of the failures along the way have enhanced the Mourinho cult; Chelsea’s close and controversial semi-final tussles with Liverpool in 2005and 2007 did more than anything to provoke the enduring animosity with Rafa Benitez.
Also at Real Madrid, the two-legged war with Pep Guardiola that formed part of four toxic Clasicos in 17 days in 2011 forever etched him into the Catalan mindset as Barcelona's most hated enemy.Win or lose, Mourinho has been one of the ChampionsLeague's key protagonists over the past decade. Only he and three other managers – Benitez, Guardiola andSir Alex Ferguson – who have coached more than 25 knockout matches boast a win percentage of at least 50 per cent (Carlo Ancelotti's record is 49%).Mourinho belongs among the elite, and history is calling again in 2015.
Victory with Chelsea would givehim a peerless record of Champions League triumphs with three different clubs, as well as ticking a box that has remained at the back of his mind since he first departed Stamford Bridge in September 2007.But as satisfying as that outcome would be for all involved, the one remaining question mark hanging over Mourinho's managerial legacy cannot be answered by anything he achieves this season.
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