Football icon Jose Mourinho has opened up on his own personal transformation in an eye-opening interview with a leading Portuguese cardinal.
The Roma boss, 59, is widely regarded as one of the greatest managers of all time having led many of Europe's greatest clubs including Chelsea, Inter Milan, Real Madrid and Manchester United. He is famously driven and does not shy away from clashing with rival coaches, reporters, referees and even his own players.
Mourinho billed himself as 'a special one' upon his arrival in the Premier League and has routinely proved to be just that over the course of his trophy-laden career, picking up an egotistical reputation in the process. However, he claims his motivations are no longer self-centred and instead revolve around helping his players taste the success he has enjoyed.
The striking revelations about Mourinho's character development were published in L'Osservatore Romano , per Football Italia, after he met with Roman Catholic leader Jose Tolentino de Mendonca. He said: "I perceive my evolution as a person by thinking about the fact that for many years I wanted to win for myself.
"Whereas now I'm in a moment where I continue to want to win with the same intensity as before or even greater, but no longer for myself, but for players who have never won, I want to help them. I think much more of the ordinary fan who smiles because his team has won, of his week which will be better because his team has won.
"I'm still a 'competition animal', so to speak, I still want to win as much or more than before, but before I focused on myself." Mourinho also confessed it pains him to see his players fail to live up to their potential.
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He added: "You pay for mistakes. If I make a mistake, I pay for it by being sacked. If a player makes a mistake, he pays for it by not playing in place of another. There's something cruel about it, but we can't let the nature of our work overlap with who we are as people.
"I am very clear about that. I try to help others and myself to be better. One thing that's hard for me to accept is the waste of talent, it's something that still after 30 years of football, is hard for me to accept.
"Sometimes, though, the waste of talent is linked to the life path that some players have had, and in that sense we have to try to be guides to the core. There is something cruel about high performance sport, particularly football, which is the most industrialised sport at all levels."
