I Was Scared Of Mourinho – Mikel

Former Super Eagles captain, Mikel Obi, has revealed how scared he was playing under Jose Mourinho during his time at Chelsea.

Mikel, who retired from football at 35 in September, won every major honour possible in his 11-year spell at Stamford Bridge after he was signed by Portuguese Mourinho in 2016.

The Nigerian, one of Chelsea’s biggest unsung heroes, said Mourinho’s methods of getting his message across to players in the dressing room was scary to him.

The former Tianjin TEDA and Trabzonspor man recounted how the Portuguese coach tore Mohamed Salah to shreds at half time, when the Egyptian was largely anonymous in a game.

“I was scared of Jose Mourinho,” Mikel told Mail Sports.

“I was definitely scared of him. I mean, this guy, the things he did to players, but it’s just a way of him passing his message across, trying to get the best out of the players.

“I remember what Jose Mourinho did to Mohamed Salah, the guy was crying in the dressing room in the second half. I think he was having a bad game. And then obviously Mourinho came in and ripped into him, massively ripped into him.

“Salah was in tears. And then what happened? Mourinho didn’t let him back onto the pitch for the second half. He took him off. He ripped into him and then got him off.”

He also recounted how players knew their manager would be sacked under Roman Abramovich.

“We always had a meeting with Roman. Once the team was not doing well, he came in and had a chat with us. Then he sits down, he has this guy, his friend, who sits with him – he’s the interpreter. And then he starts shouting and screaming in Russian!

“And then the guy interprets what he said in English, and he starts screaming and then goes, ‘You know what, you guys go back now and play football and start winning.’

“If we’re not winning, the next time Roman comes in, he flies in with his helicopter and comes to the training ground and that’s it, we know the manager’s gone. Once he flies in with his helicopter, the manager is gone.”

-Punch