Germany

Jose Mourinho 'sorry' for the way he treated Bastian Schweinsteiger

Published Mar. 31, 2017 12:49 p.m. ET

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Alex Dowd

Bastian Schweinsteiger's 20-month stay at Manchester United could be categorized as forgettable, at best. The German midfielder arrived in July 2015 under the stewardship of Louis van Gaal, but the Dutchman was sacked less than a year later.

Jose Mourinho took over in May 2016 and one of the Portuguese's first actions was banishing Schweinsteiger to train with the U-23 team. Now, with Schweinsteiger off to the Chicago Fire in MLS, Mourinho took time to reflect on his relationship with the German midfielder and says he regrets how things went down.

"Bastian is in the category of players that I feel sorry for something that I did to him," the United manager said. Mourinho stopped short of lauding Schweinsteiger's abilities as a player but was effusive in his praise as a person.

"I want to speak about him as a human being and that was the last thing I told him before he left, 'I was not right with you once, I have to be right to you now.' So, when he was asking me to let him leave, I had to say, 'Yes, you can leave,' because I did it once, I cannot do it twice. So I feel sorry for the first period with him. He knows that," Mourinho said.

When it comes to how Mourinho treated the well-decorated 32-year-old, the Man United boss had no issue showing contrition. "Yes, I regret it and it is no problem for me to admit it and he knows that because I told him."

It might come as too little, too late for Schweinsteiger, but at least Mourinho extended an olive branch. The fact that he did it in public has to count for something, too. How often does Mourinho, one of the most media-savvy managers ever, show a soft underbelly to reporters?

Information from the Associated Press was used in this report

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