The former vice-president of Barcelona has claimed that La Blaugrana were initially interested in the Portuguese tactician as a replacement for Frank Rijkaard.
Ferran Soriano, the man who was Barca’s vice-president under Joan Laporta, has taken out time to make an interesting revelation. According to the 44-year-old, the Catalan giants were keen to acquire the services of Jose Mourinho in the summer of 2008.
As the Spanish giants sacked their Dutch manager, Frank Rijkaard, it made sense that looking for a replacement was of paramount importance. The former Barca player was relieved off his duties as a result of a shambolic campaign in 2007-2008 season.
Although the Dutchman led the club to significant success during his reign in the Catalan capital, a number of reasons led to his departure from the club through the back door.
Consequently, La Blaugrana’s administration had to look for a suitable replacement. Shortly afterwards, the club announced that Pep Guardiola will take over the reins of the Nou Camp outfit.
At that time, Guardiola was serving as the head coach of Barca B. This opportunity presented the former Blaugrana defender to make his mark on football through management.
Although the Catalan tactician had little experience in coaching, the risk paid off for Barca as their new manager led the club to six trophies in his first season in charge.
Now that the Spaniard departs from the Catalan capital after a stint of 4 years, Soriano has revealed that the club considered appointing Jose Mourinho in his place. What makes the revelation fascinating is the fact that the former Porto boss has grown to
become one of Barca’s greatest rivals.
While giving an interview to Eurosport, the 44-year-old was quoted as saying:
"I can confirm that we initially preferred Mourinho over Pep. Mourinho is a great coach who has enjoyed plenty of success. He had worked for Barcelona before, so he knew how we play. However, you just have to look at the way http://www.senore.com/Football-soccer/Inter-c39567 and Real Madrid play to
see that he has a different philosophy. That's why eventually we decided not to hire him."
Jose Mourinho joined Real Madrid in the summer of 2009, and ever since joining Los Blancos, the Portuguese mentor has naturally developed his hate for http://www.senore.com/Football-soccer/Barcelona-c38604.
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