From The Touchline

Atalanta B.C.: The Team That Made A City Smile

The journey of Atalanta Football Club from being at the center of one of the worst COVID-19 affected cities of Italy to within touching distance of a Champions League semi final in Portugal where the competition is being played in a new format is the latest chapter in the long list of remarkable stories that football conjures every year. Atalanta ultimately went out against a Paris Saint Germain led by Neymar, who left it late till deep in extra time to score the goals to go through. Atalanta took the lead against the run of play in the dying stages of the game and Neymar, Mbappe and Co. found themselves in an all too familiar situation in Europe’s Premier Competition, however they rallied back via two quickfire goals to mark the end of the road for Atalanta who weren’t merely a team that was thriving in the Champions League but had done so even in Serie A, banging 98 goals on their way to a third place finish.

Their story in the competition, just like their story domestically has been incredible, their high energy football based on positional rotation and interchange has seen them get fans off their seats while scoring for fun. Atalanta played Valencia for their Round of 16 match at home in Italy at Milan’s San Siro stadium as their own stadium was under renovation. Yet, almost 44,000 fans turned up including a large number from Bergamo just when Coronavirus started cases started rising in Italy and the return leg in Spain was played behind closed doors with Atalanta winning the tie 8-4 on aggregate. Bergamo was hit hard by the virus recording 96,519 cases and 16,824 deaths according to CNN.

Gian Gasperini’s side were in the same group as Pep Guardiola’s Manchester City and began the group stage with three consecutive defeats including a 5-1 drubbing by Man City and a 4-0 defeat away at Dinamo Zagreb on the opening night of their debut season in the Champions League meant that they ran the risk of their campaign ending early. Atalanta recovered and showed signs of their brilliance on the field which is seen in their exhilarating goal scoring abilities in a 3-4-1-2 formation. Domestically they have scored 98 goals to become the highest scoring team in Italy where Juventus finished with 73. Atlanta did miss Josip Ilicic who has scored 21 goals including 5 in the Champions League. Duvan Zapata and Luis Muriel have been Ilicic’s partners in crime when it comes to scoring as they have both notched up 18 goals each in Serie A this season.

Travelling to the San Siro hasn’t deterred fans from turning up on UCL nights (Image Credits: Forza Italia.com)

La Dea (as the club are fondly called) have become the reason that Champions League football graces the pitch of one of Europe’s elite football stadium, the San Siro, home to the Milan clubs and the venue for the final in 2016. Fans from Bergamo have turned up consistently on UCL nights despite having to travel 40 miles to San Siro. The club’s fans have become famous in Italy for their emphatic ways of support. The football club is deeply intertwined with the city it belongs to and every new born is gifted a shirt of the club to make sure that support from the locals in the area is strengthened.

The fans have been unwavering in their support of the club (Image Credits: NY Post)

The Men Making La Dea Dream

Gasperini’s stint on the touchlines of Atalanta has become one that has provided him redemption. After being sacked by Inter in 2011, Gasperini, an astute tactician, worked at Palermo and Genoa with whom he had earned his fame as coach as he led them to a 5th place finish in the 2008-09 season in Serie A in his first stint using a fluid 3-4-3 system buoyed by the likes of Diego Milito and Thiago Motta. Gasperini’s exploits as a manager in Atalanta has earned him honorary citizenship of Bergamo in September 2019. Gasperini also led Atalanta to the 2018-19 Coppa Italia final only to fall short against Lazio.

Gasperini has become a fan favourite in Bergamo and has earned honorary citizenship (Image Credits: Reuters)

His three at the back system allows his wing backs to provide numerical superiority while defending as they stay deep. This, coupled with the aggressive pressure applied by the frontline forces teams to play central or long balls to the wings which allow the wing backs to press the opposition full backs and wingers with ease. Atalanta start their defensive game from the front and work their way to stop the opposition from progressing up the pitch, which is aided by the presence of the double pivot in the centre of the pitch. While attacking, the wingbacks link to create attacking moves by initiating passing connections and creating overloads and switching play at times. Their positional interchanging allows them to catch teams off guard with their forwards drifting into spaces and swapping positions effortlessly. Zapata and Ilicic in particular have been a constant source of goals with shrewd off the ball positioning either to create space for midfielders to make attacking runs or for each other, whilst also getting into scoring positions themselves.

Alejandro Gómez, who occupies a free role behind Zapata and Ilicic roams in which he drops deep to receive the ball and moves into the half spaces on the wings to create a passing triangle and string attacking moves. Atalanta also form a quartet comprising of the wing back, the midfield pivot, Gómez and the forward on either sides of the pitch, which gives them a numerical advantage and the option to quickly switch play as teams have to readjust their defensive shape in response to the change in position and space created.

Ilicic (left) celebrating with Alejandro Gómez (center) (Image Credits: These Football Times)

Their backline often stretches wide to recieve the ball in wide areas and this in turn sees the wing back tuck in with the near midfield and forward providing support. The players work hard off the ball to constantly provide passing options to each other and helps in their transition and positional rotation. While defending, they primarily use a 5-4-1 formation which allows a centre back to be at the base of the defence as a safety player whilst the team deploys a high press when without the ball. Forcing opposition to play through the central areas is key to their aggressive pressing and therefore the wingbacks help in ensuring that teams have to play through the centre as they cut off options on the wing by maintaining positions. Atalanta have been shrewd operators off the field in getting the right personnel who have a massive understanding of each other tactically. Their wingbacks Roben Gosens on the left and Hans Hateboer on the right for instance provide the much needed width in the 3-4-1-2 system.

Gasperini has turned Atalanta into one of Italy’s and European Football most exciting sides a view echoed by the Azzuri’s national team manager Roberto Mancini and with the likes of Ilicic, Muriel and Zapata firing on all cylinders, one hopes that Atalanta bounce back from their painful exit in the Champions League quarter finals and continue to be the bright spark that makes the city of Bergamo and it’s people come alive in the darkest of times and there is no doubt that they will continue their unwavering support as Atalanta hope to bring more smiles to Bergamo both in Serie A and in Europe as they once again go toe to toe with best teams in Europe next season.

The men taking Italian and European football by storm, Atalanta B.C (Image Credits : Fox Sport.com.au)

With Inputs from: FourFourTwo.com and Whoscored.com

From The Midfield to the Touchline

The FA Cup final between Chelsea and Arsenal was an encounter which saw Frank Lampard and Mikel Arteta vying for the first silverware of their managerial journey, where ultimately Guardiola’s former assistant Arteta emerged victorious and picked up a trophy which saw him outwit his former boss Guardoila on the way.

This article looks into the journey of players who have made the shift from the center of the pitch to the touchline.

Lampard and Arteta greet each other before an Arsenal vs. Chelsea match (Metro.Co.Uk)

Legendary players making the transition from the field to the touchline is not a rare sight in football. Players find a way to be a part of the beatiful game by making the shift from the pitch to the touchline. It is worthwhile to note that there have been players who have failed to reach the heights in the dugout as they did on the pitch, most notably the likes of Diego Maradona and there have been others who have gone on to achieve great things on the touchline without having illustrious playing careers. However in recent years, former midfielders are creating waves in the world of football through their managerial skills and methods.

Lampard and Arteta are the newest additions to a list of former midfielders who have hung up their boots and gone on to donne the coaches tracksuit/suit after the likes of Guardiola, Zidane. Hans Dieter Flick who has led Bayern to a mid season revival is another individual who was a no nonsense player in the middle of the park for the Bavarian’s and his understanding of the club’s philosophy has been crucial to Bayern’s revival under him. Neil Lenon a former midfielder who amassed over 500 Scottish Premiership appearances is now leading Celtic to domestic glory while Steven Gerrard’s Rangers provide competition.

A host of former players are leading from the touchline in Europe’s top leagues. The Premier League itself has a range of former players who are doing tremendous work on the touchlines which include the likes of Ole Gunnar Solskjær at Manchester United and Nuno Espirito Sancho at Wolves. However this approach has not always ensured results, and this is particularly applicable to Italian heavy weights AC Milan, Clarence Seedorf, Pippo Inzaghi, Sinisa Mihajlovic, Cristian Brocchi, Vincenzo Montella and then Gattuso – Milan have developed a habit of hiring extremely successful footballers as managers, but this tactic has so far failed to pay off for them.

Pep Guardiola and Zinedine Zidane have achieved era defining success for Barcelona and Real Madrid respectively. ( DailyMail.co. uk)

Johan Cryuff created a style of play which ties Ajax and Barcelona together as they both continue to explore his philosophy. Guardiola himself was a keen learner and observer of the game. Although not an explosive and fast midfielder, everything Guardiola did was based on intelligence, movement and anticipation. Everything was considered and thought-out. In the latter stages of his career, Guardiola began to map his route into management as he moved to Italy and then to Mexico because he wanted to play under Juanma Lillo who is a big coaching influence for Pep and has linked up with him at Manchester City to take up the role of Pep’s assistant from Arteta.

Arteta was a integral part of Pep’s backroom set up at Manchester City before making the switch to North London (The Transfer Taver)

However, it’s not necessary that only the most skilled midfielders make good coaches. Gattuso, Conte and Simeone spent their time raging for their respective teams and now they have built teams which have an identity that is attached to how their coaches were on the pitch. Gattuso has emerged as a shrewd operator and his gutsy approach picked up from his playing days has seen him improve AC Milan (although the club moved on from him quickly) and take Napoli to a domestic cup title whilst Simeone has managed to make Atletico Madrid a force to reckon with bringing them within touching distance of UEFA Champions League glory and winning the Europa League and La Liga in the process. Carlo Ancelotti wasn’t the most-skilled midfielder of his day, yet he seemed to fit in wherever his manager needed him. He’s achieved so much as a manager by adapting to the needs of his various squads rather than demanding they adapt to his. This has seen him win three Champions League Titles and he is part of an exclusive club of managers with Bob Paisley and Zinedine Zidane.

On the pitch, they were at the centre of the action. They controlled matches, winning balls, transitioning from defence to attack, directing traffic. Watch a match and you’ll see number sixes and number eights telling their mates where to go much like a goalkeeper marshals the defence. Central midfielders orchestrate every aspect of the game. If they have the ability to communicate their expectations as players, it bodes well for their careers as managers. They are the hub of their teams and often dictate the tempo and the way their teams play. Midfielders need to read the game minutely, since they are instrumental in both building and breaking plays, they can understand the movements and the tactics of the opposition. Staying ahead of the game in turn gives them a chance to prepare counter-movements of their own.

Getting the ball in the middle of the pitch, looking at the whole pitch, players running around them gave these players a chance to be a the core of how their teams played and to develop tactical flexibility which is a must in the modern game. Midfielders are an important fixture for any team and they form the backbone for their coaches during their playing days, shuttling up and down the pitch, whilst breaking up play and initiating moves that allows their colleagues upfront to score them. They are expected to perform multiple roles, depending on the phase of transition their team is in and this allows them to understand the flow of the game better.

“Dominating the midfield is the most important thing in modern football. To succeed, you have to be good at everything.”
Toni Kroos

Midfielder always have players around him – one has to have very good awareness and possess the ability to make decisions quickly, which is necessary to ensure correct decision making in high stakes situations even on the touchline. Another very important aspect of becoming a great coach is to understand and read the players to bring out their potential. Because the midfielders are the ones who control the tempo of the game, it is very important for them to understand the ability of the players around them. They are used to passing the balls according to the pace, strong foot and keeping other parameters of all the players. This alone makes them capable of reading the players which becomes a big addition to their skillset as they venture into management.

Xavi is another former midfielder who is on the cusp of big things as his appointment in the Camp Nou hotseat seems imminent. Andrea Pirlo’s appointment as the Juventus U23 manager is also an inkling of what the future holds for the Italian maestro who could boss the midfield on his own in his prime. Elsewhere, the likes of Xabi Alonso (who has already achieved success as the coach of Real Madrid’s youth teams) Patrick Viera and Micheal Carrick are working their way into the world of management with Carrick having worked with both Jose Mourinho and Ole and being a key figure on the training ground during both regimes at United.

Michael Carrick has been a permanent fixture at Carrington, assisting both Ole and Jose Mourinho. (Manchester Evening News)

Clubs are beginning to adopt an approach where former fan favourites are coming back to the dugout as they imbibe the club’s philosophy into their methods. There are a host of midfielders coming through in clubs all over Europe who are in different stages in their coaching career and therefore the journey from the centre of the pitch to the touchline is becoming a reality for alot of people.

Xavi and Pirlo are expected to make it big in management (TalkSport.com)

(With inputs from : DailyMail.co.uk, www.itsroundanditswhite.co.uk)

The Galáctico who is leading Madrid into the new decade: Zidane 2.0

2020 has been an unusual year, especially if you’re a football fan. In what has been one of the longest seasons in football, it has surely not been a disappointment. This season has had its own share of surprises everywhere; from Liverpool winning the title to Mourinho’s return to Spurs to the return of Mikel Artreta to The Emirates, all happening at the same time. Elsewhere Lampard and Ole continue to serve as reminders of a host of elite players who are rewriting their journeys on the football pitch. This time, however, they stand on the touchlines and are proving their pedigree as managers while still being seen in their old status as players. One man who has constantly had this constant weight of playing days is Zinedine Zidane, the Manager.

Zidane the player was an artist who orchestrated and ruled the centre of the pitch while winning trophies and individual accolades in his career as a player where he won it all. Therefore Zidane the manager has been often labelled as a man manager who had the help of the best players. His first tenure at the club coincided with the period where Real’s players were at their peak and they had Cristiano Ronaldo in their ranks. Zidane had already shown his man management skills by convincing CR7 to be a part of the rotation so that he could wreak havoc in the business end of the season which was integral to how the setup led Zidane and Madrid to a hattrick of UEFA Champions League Titles.

**Zidane and Cristiano forged an unforgettable winning partnership and left the club together. (Marca.com)**

Zidane was seen as someone who used his aura and let the players do their work on the pitch. His role in the winning dynasty that Real formed was often undermined, after which the disastrous reign of Lopetegui and Santiago Solari, who showed certain signs of promise, followed. Real Madrid had realised that Zidane never brought the limelight upon himself as coach due to his love for the club. He responded to the crisis when he could have lived off of his success from his last adventure with Los Blancos. He came back, intent to prove that Zidane The Manager was more than just a man manager. The questions on his ability to deliver without Cristiano around was something that loomed on Zidane’s legacy because their departures occurred at the same time.

Real Madrid are back at the top of football and La Liga without the likes of Eden Hazard and Luka Jovic playing a starring role. Zidane has managed to build a team which is a marker of his ingenuity as a coach. Real Madrid 2.0 under Zidane have evolved from being a free scoring team to a team which thrives on its defensive record with players putting the extra miles on the pitch. Zidane and his group of trusted backroom staff have taken Real back to the top of La Liga like they planned to. Zizou had been clear about the importance of winning the league since his return to the club, and he stuck to it even in his press conference at Real’s 2-1 victory against Villareal which gave Real their 34th League as well as Zidane’s second as manager.Zidane also spoke of suffering, something which Real had embraced during this league season by winning multiple tight matches by narrow margins. Unlike the last time, Real tried to be in control of the game till the final whistle throughout the 90 minutes. This wasn’t a regular feature of Madrid in Zidane’s first time in Real’s dugout.

Zinedine Zidane has brought Madrid back from the shadows. (The Evening Standard.uk)

Zidane is a connoisseur of the game, a man who understands it from all angles, just like his vision back in the day in the centre of the pitch. It is not a method, it is like this: “it has a natural connection with the wardrobe. Therefore, he respects so he is respected. Sorry for those who are waiting for a specific “Zidane recipe” (he smiles). I’d just say he’s the quintessential modern coach. A passionate and adaptable man who works hard and who also has great control over his emotions. As with Asensio, who came back after the injury and told him he was going to score. And it marks fifty seconds later … (laughs). Love your players and believe in them. Is positive. It will never lead you down a nervous path, it will always lead you to the top” ( https://sportsfinding.com/bettoni-reveals-the-madrid-champions-plan-it-was-for-the-mental/50915/amp/ )

Bettoni has been Zidane’s trusted since his first tenure at Real Madrid. Image Credits: Sportsfinder.com

He talks about Zidane, who likes to be in charge of things and be on the pitch and be a man who takes control of the tactical side of things, of the exit points, of the passing lanes and although he demands intensity and concentration, he wants players to indulge in the pleasure that is to play football.

Bettoni takes the role of a coach who likes to keep Zidane on his toes – to keep him thinking and to discuss ideas cohesively with his group of coaching staff who are as diverse as they come. The team also has Gregory Dupont, who replaced Antonio Pintus in Zidane’s second time around in Valdebas as Real’s manager. Dupont joined Real on the back of his role in France’s 2018 World Cup victory. Marca describes Dupont as:

“Gregory Dupont: The scientist who has turned the Real Madrid players into engines”
https://amp.marca.com/en/football/real-madrid/2020/02/04/5e38a8c046163f319f8b4596.html – Pablo Polo adapated by Sam Leveridge.

Dupont made sure the players enured the Corona Virus enforced break and returned in peak condition by treating the run of league games like a mini tournament like the World Cup or the Champions League a competition Real was their stomping ground the last time around they were winning the league. Real Madrid’s old guard, the men who were part of Zidane’s last tenure carried Real home to the title they were craving for so long. The likes of Ramos, Modric, Benzema and Kroos all in their 30’s rose to the occasion to remind the players who are coming through including the likes of Vinicius, Rodrygo and Fede Valverde that this team has seen their share of glory.

Zidane’s quest on the pitch has been built on a lot of factors that are part of the institution that Real Madrid is. These include the shrewd recruitment in Mendy and Eder Militao, and Hazard and Jovic who one hopes will make their mark next season. Real’s midfield however is still made of a trio costing € 66 Million and winners of 3 Champions League titles – Kroos, Modric and Casmeiro. The team has been strengthened by the likes of Mendy and Fede Valverde as well Thibault Courtois, who has turned his career around in Madrid for being the first player to win La Liga with both Real and Ateltico Madrid and has managed to pickup a Zamora trophy on the way. Real Madrid have shown their tactical prowess and ability to respond as an unit with players like Karim Benzema and Sergio Ramos rising to the occasion as the old guard takes on newer roles.

The players had often talked of a lack of hunger to do things on a pitch when Lopetegui and Solari took charge. These men were unlucky to head the roster when it was in hibernation mode with important players having tiring runs at the World Cup. The core of the team couldn’t respond and the season was one to forget where Real bowed out of 3 competitions in the span of a week. They have never had a problem with suffering in matches, in putting everything into the game and this has complimented Zidane’s silent revolution on the training ground and how Real play on the pitch. He mirrors an image of what modern day Real Madrid is and he seems to be the man to lead them into a new and exciting decade just like he has been a part of the one gone by.

Zidane has never shied away from taking a risk. His substitutions have always responded either through the left foot of Asensio or the recent gusto of Mariano Diaz’s goal that put the El Clasico to bed. As Bettoni mentions, Zidane is fine with putting on two players at half time. As I was telling my friend the other day, Zizou is playing EA FIFA Career Mode with Real. He has produced an astonishing variation of line ups which keeps everyone guessing, and predicting the lineup was an interesting part of Matchday. From playing his trademark 4-3-3, playing 4 midfielder’s together, to throwing in James and Bale into the fold from time to time, Zidane has done it all. Madrid had 21 different scorers.

Zinedine Zidane’s Homecoming

Zidane has repeatedly mentioned that this victory has been one that he will cherish alot, perhaps because Real Madrid have suffered, they haven’t played as you’d expect them to but they have shown glimpses of a team who can finally grind out victories, suffer for 90 minutes and not let their guard down, Zidane has built a unit which hunts like a pack, chases you when they don’t have the ball and have the patience to wait for the kill, to hold their nerve and wait for their chance. Real’s victory is a personal win for Zidane, a reminder of how far he has come as a coach yet it doesn’t leave out the flashes of brilliance that Zidane produced as a player including a winner in the 2002 UEFA Champions League. A long season where Zidane wasn’t supposed to last till December after Real lost 7-3 to rivals Ateltico Madrid in a pre season friendly. Zidane made sure that a relook at the fixture makes it seem like it wasn’t anything more than a pre season friendly.

Zidane 2.0 has passed it’s first test and the road ahead looks like one of great promise. His story at Madrid is written in a way that his aura will always be his talking point and never his tactical ingenuity. Perhaps that’s how Zidane’s destiny is when it comes to Real Madrid, who played his last game at Villareal as a player and won La Liga against the same team his career having come a full circle after he rose to the challenge of answering to the distress calls of the club that was in turmoil after his departure. Zidane has never shied away from a challenge (Materazzi would confirm) and for those who considered Zidane a mere man manager in his first time in the Real Madrid dug out, he is back this time to prove that Zidane the manager is a shrewd operater on the touchlines as well.

**Zidane bidding a teary goodbye after playing his last La Liga game for** **Madrid against Villareal. ( Marca.com)**

Zidane the Galáctico has proved that Zidane the Manager is not to be taken lightly as he emerges out of his aura on the field by writing a story off the field, on the touchline. Zidane has gone away from Madrid twice now and has reminded everyone from time to time that he will be gone again but for now Zinedine Zidane the Manager is back at Real Madrid and this time he is on a mission to rewrite his footballing journey in a manner that reminds everyone about his time on the touchlines and he will be hopeful that the league title is the first chapter in it.

Why Football Needs Jose Mourinho

“Please don’t call me arrogant, but I’m European champion and I think I’m a special one.”

The man who announced himself in English football with these iconic words, needs no introduction José Felix Mourinho had already been a serial European Champion with Porto, a team which signified the beauty of football. It resonates feelings like that of Leicester City’s recent Premier League victory and much like Leicester it faced a similar fate as the squad was ripped apart by wealthier European Teams and one of the biggest move that summer was Mourinho joining the English team Chelsea who had set the tone for huge foreign investment in teams (and yes it did not start with Manchester City) and he announced his arrival with this quote and a flurry of expensive signings to play football through his life’s work on Tactical Peroidisation.

While one might remember Jose asserting that he must be respected during his tenure at United, one mustn’t forget that he had managed to garner that of United’s own legend no other than Sir Alex Ferguson and the special relationship the both of them shared was just that these two were as human as all of us.

“Forget the mind games—I like him. I think he sees himself as the young gunslinger who has come into town to challenge the sheriff who has been around a while. He was certainly full of it, calling me “boss” and “big man” when we had our post-match drink.”— this is what Sir Alex Ferguson said of the man with whom he shared a post match drink many a times. Jose is someone who has less than cordial relations with most of his peers and has had infamous run ins with a host of managers which include the likes of Rafa Benitez, Pep Guardoila and not to forget Arsene Wenger. Afterall who can forget the two of them going at each other like schoolboys on the touchlines.

Jose Mourinho is an enigma, an act beneath whom lies a boy who quit just one day after he was enrolled in business school by his mother and vowed to her that he’d make money out of football, someone who started as a mere translator to Bobby Robson and followed him in his journey all over.

Mourinho became the first in the line of many special managers in the game of football who were the first consistent ones to challenge the belief that the absence of a playing career, and in its place a focus on an intellectual approach to football, is any barrier to success as a manager. Mourinho has garnered admirers in the likes of Andres Villas Boas who picked up his football side of thinking and went from winning titles to the racing track to Rui Faria, who picked who eventually left Mourinho alone, however he has picked up another young Portguese footballing brain in Joao Sacramento who hails from Barcelos, just north of Porto. Sacramento completed a degree in sports coaching and a Masters in performance coaching at the University of Glamorgan and will embark on a journey with the Portuguese in his new adventure at Totthenham Hostpurs.

Managing a football club in today’s days is more than just being successful on the pitch but having a lot of pragmatism in the entire approach unless you have the aura of being a favourite during your playing days a benefit afforded to Pep Guardoila at Barcelona to Zinedine Zidane at Real Madrid, I mean who can forget Zidanes goal in the Champions League Final in ‘ 02 against Bayer Leverkusen and as much as I respect Gareth Bale, Zizou has been at the pinnacle of world football in his days. The same treatment is afforded to the likes of Lampard, Ole and even Artreta. The men who belong to the kingdom of not so successful players who preferred to have a not so intellectual approach to football involve alot of work off the field like turning up with Presentations at interviews which include prospective transfer targets and lays the foundation for setting up objectives and demand much more control in the working of the club.

Managers now give detailed presentations about what they can bring to a club – AVB did it and it includes the likes of Julius Nagelsmann, who has earned the nickname ‘Baby Mourinho’ early on in his coaching career. However the RB Leipzig boss also at times shown he’s very much his own man. Somewhere on all of those presentations are Mourinho’s fingerprints, leading back to the days when he used to astonish Bobby Robson by coming back with scouting reports detailing walking postures of players and their shoe sizes.

“I AM NOT ONE FROM THE BOTTLE, I AM A SPECIAL ONE”
Jose Mourinho introducing himself as Chelsea Manager in his first stint at Stamford Bridge

He was, it is true, “not one from the bottle”. Jurgen Klopp loves the excitement of creating a winning football team; Sir Alex Ferguson lived for nothing else; Arsene Wenger was ultimately too soft for the quest but it clearly pushed his buttons; Pep Guardiola is the ultimate control freak who loves winning. All of them, from Klopp’s hurling everyone up the pitch to press, to Guardiola wanting to play one centre-back, to Fergie imploring his players to simply “do something to excite me”, to Wenger wanting no-one in his midfield but beautiful passers, have room in their characters for winning’s essential element: recklessness.

Although his tumultuous reign at Madrid is what people remember, the forgotten part of his time there is the League title with 100 points and Mourinho’s men being the ‘nearly men’ of football in the Champions League, a competition Real has won 4 times after his exit in 8 years, including 3 on the trot. Florentino Perez when aksed about Mourinho stated that- “The balance of Mourinho’s time here, is that we have made a very important qualitative leap, both competitively and sporting. We are back where this club should be; prior to his arrival we were knocked out in the Champions League round of 16 and were not even seeded.” Mourinho continues to be on the list of managers who are linked with the Madrid job consistently.

Therefore wherever Mourinho goes he leaves his mark, for the good in some cases and to the contrary in others and now he will stand under the lights on the touchlines of the Totthenham Hotspurs new stadium and hopefully use his chance at redemption, a chance to either reinvent himself and be the enigma he was once, glimpses of which will surely be seen behind the scenes on the Spurs Amazon Prime Documentary or probably take a less glorious road in his adventure in football. Mourinho’s journey in football is at crossroads but it’s not the first time and after all the man might cut a sorry figure but it’s worthy to remember the famous “I think I am a Special One” and perhaps it would do Mourinho some good to steer Spurs towards something which serves as a reminder that he is still relevant. Whatever happens, Jose will leave his mark on a Spurs team brimming with talent and a team that was the ‘nearly men’ of Champion’s League 2019 and it’s an exciting tale that’s coming out of the white half of North London where Jose Mourinho writes another tale in his rollercoaster ride in football.

With Inputs from: The Football365.com, The Independent, The Daily Mail.co.uk, The NY Times.com, Bundesliga.com