In a long interview with The Coaches Voice, Jose Mourinho reflected on his highly successful tenure in charge of Inter.
“At Inter Milan, my agreement with them was that the first season was to keep that dominance in Italian football – to win the title for the third consecutive time. But, at the same time, to fill the need for the Champions League. To do the second part, we needed to bring the team to the next level,” he began.
“That first season, I waited and waited until the moment we were knocked out of the Champions League by Manchester United. That was the moment when I told the owner and the sports director: ‘For me, this is what we need.’
“We were a team that, defensively, was phenomenal in a low block. But we needed to bring the line 20 metres higher, to make the team much more dominant, to press higher. To help with that, we needed a fast central defender – that was crucial for us. The work the club did that summer was phenomenal.
“At Inter, we had a simple structure in the club and so, even when my immediate choice, Ricardo Carvalho, was not possible, they found the perfect solution: Lucio. He was fast. Really fast. He would give us exactly what we needed.
“After that, we had to improve our passing quality in midfield. We had fantastic players there: Javier Zanetti, Dejan Stankovic, Sulley Muntari. But we needed to be more dominant. To be more in control. For that, we needed something different. Wesley Sneijder was the key for us.
“The approach was very simple, and the team became really adapted. Not just to keep dominating Serie A, but to become the kind of strong, cynical, intelligent, pragmatic team that could do it against the best in Europe.”
Mourinho, who is currently out of work having left Manchester United almost a year ago, then spoke on when he felt the turning point came in the season he led the team to Champions League glory.
“Inter had not won the European Cup or Champions League for almost 50 years. Even going back to the 1980s and 1990s, when it seemed like almost every top player in the world played for Inter, they never managed to do it. There was a psychological wall there that had to be broken.
“I felt the key moment came against Chelsea in the last 16. To come to Stamford Bridge and win there was the moment people started to believe. Started to feel that we had a team capable of winning it. That moment was the click that the team needed. The moment when the psychological wall started to crumble.
“Winning that Champions League was a fantastic achievement. It was not an easy way to do it – we were not exactly lucky in the draws. But we went into that competition with ambition and an incredible team that allowed us to deliver what the club wanted.”
