BARCELONA - Bayern Munich reduced Jose Mourinho to tears in
2012 when they knocked his Real Madrid team out of the Champions
League eight years ago, the Portuguese coach has revealed.
"That night is the only time I have ever cried after a football
match," Mourinho said in an interview with Spanish sports paper Marca
on Saturday.
"I remember it well: me and Aitor [Karanka, Mourinho's assistant]
parked in the car in front of my house, crying.
"It was very hard to take because in that 2011-12 season we were the
best team in Europe."
This weekend marks eight years since Mourinho ended Pep Guardiola's
Barcelona's domination in Spain by winning La Liga with a record 100
points tally.
But Mourinho also had the chance to win what would have at the time
been Real's 10th Champions League, only to lose on penalties to
Bayern in the semi-finals, with Cristiano Ronaldo, Kaka and Sergio
Ramos all missing from the spot.
"That is also football. Cristiano, Kaka, Sergio Ramos, they are three
monsters of football, there is no doubt about that. But they are also
human," Mourinho said.
Reflecting on winning La Liga, Mourinho said: "That was my hat-trick,
if we put aside Portugal. I wanted to win the league in England,
Italy and Spain. And I'm still the only coach who has done it."