LONDON, September 27 – Chelsea manager Jose Mourinho insisted on Friday he was not concerned by comments made by Tottenham Hotspur manager Andre Villas-Boas about the decline of their relationship.
“I don’t discuss this with the media. It’s a personal thing. I don’t care what he says. I’m not here to do that. I’m not interested,” Mourinho told a news conference on Friday.
Villas-Boas, who for seven years was a scout for Mourinho at Porto, Inter and Chelsea — when his fellow Portuguese was in his first spell in charge at Stamford Bridge — said Thursday their relationship had declined after he left to go his own way having failed to convince his mentor he deserved a more senior role.
Saturday sees Villas-Boas’s Tottenham, level on points with Premier League leaders Arsenal, up against Mourinho’s Chelsea at White Hart Lane in all-London clash given added spice as it is the first time the two compatriots have opposed each other as mangers.
Mourinho contrasted his relationship with Villas-Boas to that with Louis Van Gaal, whom he worked under at Barcelona before steering an Inter Milan side to beat a Bayern Munich team managed by the Dutchman in the 2010 Champions League final.
“I managed a Champions League final against a manager who was important in my career and taught me to grow up and I did it in a professional way. And that is a way you have to do it,” Mourinho said.
“I have had so many assistants in my career. I was always an open book to them and with the coaches in the academy. Will I go for a glass of wine with him? When people invite me I always go. I never refuse.
“But I have nothing more to say on this,” added Mourinho, whose Chelsea side are currently two points adrift of Tottenham.
Villas-Boas, speaking on Thursday, said: “Our break-up point was because I was full of ambition to give him something extra and I wanted further involvement from the job I was doing at that time.
“I felt I could give him much more. But he didn’t feel the need for somebody near to him or in another position as an assistant, and because of that it was decided that it was time, after Inter Milan, to continue our careers (apart).”
He added: “We had a great personal and professional relationship before that we don’t have now.
“I don’t think we need explanations. But our relationship broke down.”
