Mourinho 'devastated' that he didn't get Liverpool job in 2004
Danny Murphy says that he ‘knows’ Jose Mourinho was ‘devastated’ when Rafa Benitez was given the Liverpool job ahead of The Special One.
I know we all love to make fun of Jose Mourinho and take pleasure in his shortcomings, but there is another universe out there in which he was a Liverpool legend, deified by the Kop the way Jurgen Klopp is becoming.
Let’s get this out of the way on the front end, though: Rafa Benitez was the man in charge for arguably Liverpool’s greatest night, so there’s absolutely no regrets. I’m not longing for a revised history, it’s just interesting to think what if Mourinho got the nod over Rafa in 2004?
First, here are Danny Murphy’s quotes, via TalkSport.
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“When Benitez was appointed at Liverpool, it was between him and Mourinho. I know that for a fact. Mourinho wanted the Liverpool job massively,” said Murphy. “But Liverpool basically went with Benitez, because he’d just won the Spanish league title and UEFA Cup with Valencia and they thought that was more solid an appointment than someone who had only done it in Portugal. I know Mourinho was massively disappointed.”
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If Mou had taken the reigns, Liverpool almost certainly wouldn’t have singed Xabi Alonso. Who knows if they win the Champions League, even though Mourinho proved his European pedigree the season prior.
It’s interesting to imagine what players may have come through the doors at Melwood, though, and how long he would have been around. Mourinho always hinted that the Chelsea support was not great enough, he would have been a legend in the Kop’s eyes with a little success. I reckon he would have enjoyed that, maybe enough to stick around a while.
Sports are ‘what if’ laden, but it’s alway fun to consider alternate realities.
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