Jose Mourinho has admitted that the decision to leave Real Madrid in 2013 to rejoin Chelsea is one of the biggest regrets of his illustrious career.
Mourinho has seen his stock fall of late, gradually drifting away from the group of truly elite clubs that were once his domain. But ten years ago he was rivaling Pep Guardiola as the most desirable managerial name on the planet.
The Portuguese arrived at the crossroads in 2013, just one season into a four-year deal with Real Madrid, but following the self-proclaimed “worst” campaign of his career.
Mourinho, who finally ended Barcelona’s La Liga dominance with an incredible 100 points in 2011/12, has left Madrid and is back in the fold Chelsea for a second stay in London. That meant telling Bernabeu president Florentino Perez he wanted to leave and sever ties.
In an interview for a Roman publication Corriere dello Sport this week, the now 61-year-old was pressed to name his biggest regret in football.
“If we talk about games, a lot because when you lose you always think you could have done differently, and I lost a lot of games,” he answered.
“If you mean professional choices, ‘no’ to Florentino. He told me, ‘Mou, don’t leave now, you’ve done the hard part and the good part is yet to come’. I knew it would be like this, but I wanted to return to Chelsea after three years of great battles in Spain…”
Although Mourinho led Chelsea to the 2014/15 Premier League title, the club’s first in five years, Madrid immediately won the Champions League without him – the Portuguese, so famous for his European conquests with Porto and Inter, has never gone all the way since 2010.
He also stated that his other big regret was not leaving Roma sooner, immediately after the heartbreak of losing the 2023 Europa League final on penalties to Sevilla. Mourinho continued, but poor results the following season resulted in his sacking just seven months later.
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