When Bayern Munich take on Inter Milan tomorrow night at the Bernabeu in the final of the UEFA Champions League it will see two good friends facing each other on the sidelines. Bayern's Louis van Gaal and Inter's Jose Mourinho are long time friends and even ahead of such a big match the duo are texting each other, maybe even talking over the phone. The duo have a lot in common, especially their arrogance but when it comes to football their philosophies differ. Mourinho plays result oriented football, while van Gaal's teams play creative and attacking football. The two have huge respect for each other.
Both coaches can create history as both club have won the domestic double of league and cup. But no Italian or German club has ever won the treble.
Dutchman Louis van Gaal and Portuguese Jose Mourinho know each other very well since the their days together at FC Barcelona. And the "special one" as Mourinho refers to himself will face his mentor, who not only used him as a translator at the Catalan giants, but also helped him develop as a coach before venturing out to become one of the best coaches in world football.
Mourinho's story shows that with determination and talent you can get somewhere in life, but how often does it happen. Besides van Gaal the other big mentor or rather a father figure for Mourinho was the late Sir Bobby Robson. Actually under the Englishman the Portuguese started his career as a translator and coach at top clubs in Portugal before Robson took Mourinho with him to FC Barcelona in 1996. But Robson only stayed a season before moving on and in came Louis van Gaal with a big reputation after having had a very successful spell at Ajax Amsterdam.
The duo worked together for three years and Mourinho was one of the trusted deputies of the Dutch General. Mourinho now was no longer only a translator, but fully part of the FC Barcelona coaching staff taking care of press conferences, training the team and interacting with the players. Van Gaal even entrusted him with the job of coaching Barcelona's 'B' team.
Van Gaal left Barcelona to take on the job of Dutch national coach and it also meant Mourinho moved on. He moved back to Portugal as assistant coach of German Jupp Heynckes at Benfica Lisbon, but the German only lasted a few weeks and Mourinho was suddenly head coach. It didn't last too long due to internal politics at the club, but Mourinho was on his way. He moved on to Uniao de Leiria before getting the chance to coach FC Porto in 2002.
At FC Porto Mourinho would win the Portuguese league title before being surprise winners of the 2004 UEFA Champions League, a 3-0 win against Monaco in the Arena auf Schalke. But on the way Mourinho would beat Manchester United and due to this win the Premier League would now show interest in the coach.
Mourinho joined FC Chelsea in 2004 just after the Champions League win and the south-west London club hoped for a new era under the Portuguese. The club did win six trophies under Mourinho, but club owner Roman Abramovich wanted to win the one catch prize in European football, the UEFA Champions League and here Mourinho just couldn't deliver and had to leave.
After nearly a year out of the job Mourinho joined Inter Milan in the summer of 2008 and has had two very successful years at the club, which could culminate in winning the Champions League tomorrow. And the question is would Mourinho leave San Siro if he wins the title and stay in Madrid to take up one of the most difficult coaching jobs in the world that at Real Madrid.
Only time will tell...
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