Soccer
Mourinho: I am number one
2010-12-24 10:10
Rome - Jose Mourinho said on Thursday he deserved to be named coach of the year and not Spain's World Cup winning coach Vicente del Bosque.
The ever immodest 47-year-old Real Madrid coach told the 'Gazzetta dello sport' that he firmly believed he had achieved more in 2010 when he was in charge of Inter Milan than the Spanish handler, who delivered Spain their first world title when they beat the Netherlands 1-0 in July's final.
"Me, I've made my choice. 11 months work, 57 matches played, three titles including the most important of all, 'THE' tournament, the Champions League (plus the Italian Cup and the Italian league title)," said Mourinho, who left Inter for Real in the summer.
"I have won everything, I could not do any more than that, equally so for the players."
Mourinho, whose successor as coach of Inter Rafael Benitez was sacked on Thursday, also defended his Dutch playmaker at Inter Wesley Sneijder, who was not even nominated for the Ballon d'Or, an award which according to Gazzetta will go to Barcelona's Spanish playmaker Andres Iniesta.
Sneijder to many people's amazement including that of UEFA president Michel Platini was not even on the shortlist despite his inspirational play for Inter last term and then outstanding performances for the Dutch at the World Cup.
"If the winner is Iniesta, who unhappily was not able to play for the first five months of the year because of injury, but after that played six matches and scored a goal in South Africa (the winner in the World Cup final), then anything can happen in the year of a World Cup final and the rest counts for nothing," said Mourinho, whose only serious reverse this year was the 5-0 hammering by Barcelona in their first 'clasico' meeting of the season at the end of November.
"I can understand if there was a debate if the trophies were shared, but when one has won everything!
"What can one say? I would prefer to win the match on Sunday than the Ballon d'Or," he added.
The Ballon D'Or will be announced in Zurich on January 10.