Jose Mourinho has admitted his departure from Tottenham Hotspur "hurt" but claimed he has no hard feelings with chairman Daniel Levy over his decision.
The 59-year-old was sacked just six days before Spurs' Carabao Cup final clash with Manchester City in April 2021 following a run of disappointing results in the Premier League. Mourinho won 44 of his 86 matches in charge, guiding Tottenham to a sixth place finish in his first season.
However, there was some confusion surrounding Levy's decision given Mourinho's record in finals. He has won 12 of his 14 cup finals since the Portuguese guided Porto to the UEFA Cup back in 2003.
Mourinho led Porto to the Champions League a year later, before going on to win a number of other trophies in England, Spain and Italy. His record at getting over the line in the big matches is nothing short of excellent and Mourinho has opened up about why his Tottenham departure was so frustrating.
He told Sky Sports : "I am in the maturity of my career and also my life where I don't have bad feelings. I just try to accept the things the way they are. Yes. Yes it hurt.
"I react in a funny way when I speak with some English journalists at press conferences. I always say the joke about qualifying for the [Conference League] Final, I hope not to be sacked this time, because it's something that doesn't happen to too many coaches.
"This time I cannot say I'm the privileged one, because it happened to me. I don't have regrets. I don't have bad feelings. There are lots of nice people in Tottenham and I wish them the best. Even to Mr Levy.
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"But for a guy with my career and my history I think it was a strange thing to happen. But in the end it opened the door for me to be in Rome and I'm very happy to be in Rome.
"Of course I would love to be in a position of fighting to win titles or to be in the Champions League where I played 160 or 170 games there. But I am loved here.
"I love the people here. I feel very much a part of the empathy created between the fans and the club and myself and the players. I'm very happy here."
Mourinho guided Roma to the Europa Conference League final last week with a 2-1 semi-final aggregate win over Leicester City. He will be looking to continue his superb record when they take on Feyenoord later this month.
