Jose Mourinho Post Game Interview

These are some comments from Jose Mourinho’s post-game press conference

“It was a provocation in a football sense when [Van Gaal] said before the match Inter are a defensive team. But I knew what he wanted and I wanted the same thing – to win. We didn’t lose our personality, we’re a very compact team and we managed to play and win with counters. After the second goal the match was over.

With Bayern attacking with so many players it was easier for us to control the middle of the pitch and from there we attacked. It’s important to have emotional control. We played a beautiful final and we deserved to win, not just for this match but for the whole run to the final.

Inter is an Italian team, with only Italians on the bench, but we are a club with an Italian culture and we are proud to represent Italian football. It is an important victory. Italy are world champions and now also European club champions. It’s fantastic and I’m proud to give this little contribution. I like the pressure of Italy. They have this incredible passion for football and for their clubs. That pressure is perhaps the cause of my grey hair but I feel stronger for my time in Italy.

Everyone wants to win [this competition] but few have the privilege of winning and I think it’s an even bigger privilege to win it twice. Some have asked if I feel different to how I felt after winning with Porto [in 2004] but I don’t feel a major difference. Perhaps I can win again, but I don’t think the feeling will be different. I’m the same person with the same feelings: huge joy and happiness, with a tear here and there if I have to leave.

I will always remember this season with Inter. More than the words, it was an incredible marriage between us. [Inter president Massimo Moratti] wanted me a few years ago when I was at Chelsea. When I came maybe he had a feeling I was the one to give him his dream. For so many years he has dreamed of this, to have the same photo his father had with the European Cup and I am very, very happy to give him that.

I am very, very proud right now to be coach of Inter. If you want to win you must be able to build a team. The team must have spirit and work together and that’s why I’m proud of Inter. They have worked endlessly to achieve that and everyone from the groundsman to the players on the pitch and even those that did not play a minute are a marvellous family. At all my clubs we have created a family feeling and that’s the most important thing.”