Current Roma coach Jose Mourinho has revealed he could have joined Real Madrid from Inter Milan one year sooner than he did.
The Portuguese coach spoke to Italian journalist Federico Buffa on the “Buffa Talks” podcast, via FCInterNews.
Mourinho spent just two seasons as Inter coach.
However, they were very successful ones. The former Porto, Chelsea, and Manchester United coach won the Serie A title in his first campaign in charge.
Then in his second season at the helm, Mourinho guided Inter to the European Treble.
The Portuguese didn’t stick around for long. He headed to Real Madrid in the summer of 2010.
But as Mourinho has revealed, that move could well have come even earlier. Mourinho could well have moved to the Spanish capital in 2009, meaning that he would never have won the Champions League with Inter.
Jose Mourinho Reveals That He Could’ve Joined Real Madrid In 2009
“I wanted to join Real Madrid, and the truth is that the first offer from the Merengues had already arrived after my first season at Inter,” Mourinho said.
“But I had special a relationship with the Moratti family as well,” he continued. “And not just with the President.”
“We decided to continue together,” the coach went on.
Mourinho said of his Nerazzurri team that “That group was phenomenal. Those players were very intelligent and, even without my revealing anything, everyone understood that I would leave after the final.”
“But I hadn’t signed with Real Madrid yet,” he went on.
“I refused to play in the Champions League final while having a contract elsewhere.”
Mourinho noted that “I wanted Real Madrid because I had the goal in mind of winning the Premier League, the Scudetto, and La Liga.”
“That’s why I didn’t return to Milan after winning the Champions League,” he said.
“I was scared,” Mourinho went on.
He admitted that “I was afraid that San Siro, the Duomo, the party, all of it could make me change my mind about choosing to go to Real Madrid.”