Football manager Jose Mourinho chose FC Barcelona legend Lionel Messi over compatriot and Real Madrid icon Cristiano Ronaldo as the greatest player of their generation, in comments made to TNT Sports.
Mourinho is currently set to take the reins at Fenerbahce when club football resumes after international tournaments such as the Euros and Copa America have taken place.
Messi and Ronaldo will feature in them for their respective countries Argentina and Portugal, in what could be the last time we get to see them at a major competition considering they are already on the road to 40.
On Tuesday to ESPN, Messi confirmed that Inter Miami will be his last club yet he also stressed that he’s not ready to retire yet.
Mourinho on the other hand could only just be getting started as a head coach. Yet given he has already spent 20 years at the top of the game, which have yielded two Champions Leagues and a number of domestic championships, the 61-year-old has plenty to reflect on.
TNT Sports asked him the one player who he wished he had signed, and for the Portuguese there were no doubts.
“Of course I would have to say the little guy,” Mourinho answered, in reference to eight-time Ballon d’Or winner Messi. “But the little guy was not coachable. But I have to say, in our generation, he was the best.”
This means that Mourinho picks Messi ahead of his compatriot Cristiano Ronaldo in an endless debate among football fans, which might not be well received by his ex-Real Madrid forward from 2010 to 2013.
CR7 was however chosen in a shortlist of the best players Mourinho has had the chance to work with.
“You know, it is very hard to say, to speak about [John] Terry, [Frank] Lampard, [Didier] Drogba, Ronaldo, Xabi Alonso, Man United, all the Inter guys, I don’t know,” Mourinho said.
As for the best supporters in the world, Mourinho remarked: “Old Trafford is Old Trafford, Bernabeu is Bernabeu, San Siro is San Siro, Stamford Bridge is Stamford Bridge … But I would say for a team not used to winning, Roma fans are so, so loyal to the team.”
