José Mourinho, the anti-Barça, may have gone out of style but he still matters

P erhaps it’s different if you live in Italy or if Serie A is the league you follow most closely. Perhaps, then, José Mourinho is still a cussed ball of fury, bearing ancient grudges, determined never to relinquish a slight, real or imagined, the Keyser Söze of the dugout, the Karla of the press conference, manipulating and plotting, radiating paranoia as he insists his club is the victim of a conspiracy by the referees, the media and the football authorities.

But if not, there was something almost heartwarming about Roma’s 0-0 draw at Bayer Leverkusen in the second leg of their Europa League semi-final. He’s still doing it! He hasn’t changed! 28% possession. One shot on target to Leverkusen’s 23. The ball in play for just 54 minutes, despite 14 minutes of injury time. An xG of 0.03. This was a celebration of mourinhismo, a Camp Nou 2010 for the modern age. He had a lead from the first leg, so why should he attack?

For 15 years the game at elite level has been about possession and the high press, about playing on the front foot, but when Barcelona preferred Pep Guardiola over Mourinho in 2008, it confirmed what he had always suspected: that the club had never fully accepted him when he had been a coach there in the late 90s; that they would always side with their own; that he would become the anti-Barça; that if they wanted to play with the ball, he would play without it.

His Porto and his Chelsea both pressed to an extent – it was only after that rejection that he retreated fully into the shadows, became the Sauron of anti-football, preaching, in direct contradistinction to Guardiola, his doctrine that he who has the ball has fear. In that sense his entire post-Chelsea career can be seen as an extended