AS: Mourinho Makes Another Champions League Push, Hopes to Lead Real Madrid to Final

According to AS, Mourinho is making another push for the Champions League with three teams in mind and hopes to lead Real Madrid to the final.

He previously lost with Real Madrid to Barcelona, Bayern Munich and Borussia Dortmund respectively, with all three defeats coming in the Champions League. He could become the only coach to lead three different teams to Champions League titles.

Guardiola, Pepe's controversial red card, the repeated 'why' questions Mourinho has brought up again in recent hours, Ramos' penalty that went into the stands, and the night delivered by Lewandowski may all have repeatedly appeared in the nightmares of the Portuguese coach over the past 13 years. Since leaving Real Madrid, these memories have all been linked to his teams coming close to Champions League finals for three consecutive years in 2011, 2012 and 2013, only to fall against Barcelona, Bayern Munich and Borussia Dortmund respectively. Football owes Mourinho an opportunity to play a Champions League final with Real Madrid. It was his two Champions League triumphs — with Porto in 2004 and Inter Milan in 2010 — that made Florentino Luis admire him. That enthusiasm has continued to this day, and it is also why he returned. Since Mourinho left, Real Madrid have lifted six Champions League trophies. As Mourinho himself revealed, Florentino Luis called him after every title win to acknowledge that he had laid the foundations for those successes.

Mourinho knows better than anyone that the only key to entering Real Madrid's hall of glory is winning the Champions League. The three trophies won by Zidane and Enrique have raised the standard significantly. However, for Mourinho, already a veteran of Europe's top club competition, everything remains possible. He has managed 153 Champions League matches and recorded 80 victories, ranking fifth in appearances, behind only Wenger (178 matches, 82 wins), Guardiola (189 matches, 117 wins), Ferguson (190 matches, 102 wins) and Ancelotti (218 matches, 124 wins). Among them, only Ancelotti (56%) and Guardiola (62%) have slightly higher win rates than his 52%. Furthermore, none of those names are currently managing clubs, giving Mourinho an opportunity to continue improving his ranking.

Asked about his unfinished business with the Champions League and Real Madrid, as well as the criticism repeatedly directed at him over the claim that he stopped in the semifinals three times, Mourinho played down the topic. 'I had two different periods at Real Madrid. I ended that work in 2013. We won what we won and lost what we lost. We gave everything. Now all of this has nothing to do with the past. In 2010, Real Madrid had not reached the Champions League quarterfinals for many years and had not played in the semifinals for a long time,' he said, emphasizing his work.

'Today's Real Madrid,' he continued, 'have won in recent years... I don't know, six, seven, eight times... These are two different periods, but that does not change my thoughts. If you ask me whether I want to win the Champions League with Real Madrid, the answer is obviously yes. But this is completely different from the context of saying that I did not achieve it before.'

Mourinho now stands in an excellent position to create history. He has the chance to become the first coach in Champions League history to win the title with three different teams. He has already achieved this with Porto and Inter Milan. Like him, Ancelotti (Real Madrid and Milan), Guardiola (Manchester City and Barcelona), Happel (Feyenoord and Hamburg), Hitzfeld (Borussia Dortmund and Bayern Munich), and Heynckes (Real Madrid and Bayern Munich) have also lifted the Champions League trophy with two different clubs.

Although many coaches have won three Champions League titles — Guardiola, Enrique, Paisley and Zidane among them — Ancelotti's five trophies still appear difficult to match. None of Mourinho's three semifinal defeats have been forgotten by history. The most famous was the 2010-11 season against Barcelona. In that intense Clasico storm, the Champions League stage featured Guardiola's famous remark that 'Jose is the best in the world and knows everything,' as well as Mourinho's memorable 'why' question after Pepe was shown a straight red card in the first leg.

In the following semifinal, Ramos sent his penalty over the bar in the shootout against Bayern Munich; the next time, in the 2012-13 season, Lewandowski destroyed Real Madrid with four goals for Borussia Dortmund. Now Mourinho has the opportunity to complete the circle 17 years later. This is the key to entering Real Madrid's hall of glory.