Jose Mourinho has had a fair old time of it over the last few months, with his Manchester United team floundering and the media being constantly critical of his methods, and even accusing him of madness at times, but the wit of old seems to remain, nestled away in there somewhere.
Speaking in a press conference ahead of Juventus’ visit to England for a Champions League engagement, he showed a flash of it during a customarily testy exchange with a visiting journalist.
After the journalist identifies himself as being from Eleven Sports and begins to speak the sort of Portuguese that makes Mourinho wrinkle his face, he asks “It’s an Italian journalist, no?” of his press officer.
“It’s either English or Italian (that questions must be asked in),” she instructs the reporter.
“This is Portuguese,” he explains.
“Ya, I know,” says Mourinho to a few chuckles among the press pack.
“The last time I spoke in Portuguese, I was in trouble,” he added.
A reference of course to his foul-mouthed attack on the media, delivered in his native tongue to a waiting television camera after his side’s remarkable 3-2 turnaround against Newcastle United at Old Trafford.
That got him in hot water with the FA, but it's good to see he can still show a bit of that wry sense of humour when the mood strikes.
That win over Newcastle, supplemented since by a draw with his former side Chelsea at Stamford Bridge, has had the impact of raising what had been a sour mood around the club.
But a more potent black-and-white threat than the one posed by Rafa Benitez's men awaits for them tonight, though.
Jose Mourinho in a typically playful mood with journalists ahead of @ManUtd's crunch @ChampionsLeague clash against @juventusfc at Old Trafford. 😆 #MUNJUV #MUFC
Full press conference 👉Â
