The return of Mourinho, the man who could have been loved at Barça

BarcelonaHistory is full of moments in which a detail can change everything. In 2008, José Mourinho came to believe that he would be the new coach of Barça, a club where he had already worked and of which he had great memories at the time. That year, the Portuguese man already saw himself returning to a city of which he only said good things. Furthermore, he did not hide that he loved the club that today, life's ironies, has become his greatest rival. Eighteen years later, Mou returns to Barcelona. He returns to the Camp Nou. The stadium where they have whistled at him and jeered him, where he poked Tito Vilanova in the eye, where he has chased referees and run across the pitch between sprinklers celebrating a great success with Inter. The stadium where he could have been loved if things had gone differently that year in 2008.

It was January of that year when a Blaugrana delegation formed by sporting director Txiki Begiristain and board member Marc Ingla travelled to Lisbon. Their destination was an office at the Banco Espírito Santo, then one of the largest in Portugal, although in 2014 this entity had to be bailed out by the government. The Blaugrana delegation was not going to deposit money. Jorge Mendes, the famous agent, had summoned them there, considering it would be a place where they could talk without being bothered by journalists. The reason for the meeting was to assess whether José Mourinho could be the Blaugrana coach starting from the 2008/09 season, as the excitement Frank Rijkaard had stirred at Barça was then fading. It was the first meeting and Mendes ended up quite satisfied. Ingla less so, as he did not fully approve of the Setúbal coach's way of managing the media.

But Barça was on the wrong path. Rijkaard no longer had power over a dressing room that was self-destructing. And more and more voices were calling for a grumpy and authoritarian coach to restore order. Mourinho did not spark sympathy among the Barça fans because he had already made his mark in the Champions League tie of the 2004/05 season when he was managing Chelsea. Back then the English had won, but a year later it was Barça who would defeat them, in 2006, in that tie in which Mou accused Messi of putting on teatro del bueno". Those ties had caused the Barça fanbase not to have a good image of the Portuguese man, but in 2008 many members seemed willing to forgive his sins if he restored order in the dressing room. The coach even received Barça envoys at his apartment in Lisbon, where he showed them that his son slept in a Blaugrana shirt and had posters of the Blaugrana club in his room. Normal, since the kid had spent his childhood in Barcelona. In fact, the son is still a Barça fan today.

At the luxurious headquarters of Gestifute, Mendes' company, in the former facilities of the Lisbon International Exhibition, Mendes and Mourinho explained to then-vice president Marc Ingla and Txiki Begiristain that they had studied Barça in detail to be able to succeed there. Mourinho already took for granted that he would be the chosen one. But Joan Laporta decided that it was necessary to sign Josep Guardiola. And history changed completely.

The role of Bobby Robson

Mourinho would return to Camp Nou in 2010, with Inter. Those Champions League semifinals that ended with the triumph of the Italians. It was a key moment. The coach from Setúbal went on to become the villain of the movie that every story needs. Mourinho knew how to stop Guardiola's Barça when it seemed they would win the Champions League at the Bernabéu and Florentino Pérez covered him in gold so that he would sign for Madrid, since the white president believed that he was the kryptonite that could hurt the coach from Santpedor. Mourinho became Barça's public enemy number 1.

The coach had arrived at Barça in 1996 as an assistant and translator for Bobby Robson. When the Englishman left and Louis van Gaal arrived, Mou stayed on his coaching staff from 1997 to 2000. Mourinho had met Robson in Lisbon, when the English coach was looking for someone who could translate for him and had knowledge of football. And together they made such a good tandem that Robson took him to Barcelona in 1996.

Both established their residence in Sitges. Mourinho lived in an apartment in the Parc de Mar development, where Van Gaal also lived and very close to where Josep Lluís Núñez spent many weekends. But Mou had little social life in the Garraf, since he preferred to go to Camp Nou to work whenever he could. His wife, Matilde, did get around more in Sitges. In general, the Mourinhos left with a great memory of Sitges, where they have returned occasionally and are remembered in bars on the promenade or renting jet skis. In fact, people around the Madrid coach explain that Mourinho speaks very well of the life he had those years in Catalonia. But the door to returning was closed.

And when he returns, he does so as a rival. Now he arrives in this second journey at Madrid where he has to play a role similar to that of 2010: being the coach who can stop a triumphant Barça. If he loses, however, he could be very damaged, since his team is not quite playing well. And to hide it, he has already been up to his old tricks in press conferences, pretending there is a worldwide conspiracy to benefit Barça and harm Madrid. That neighbor from Sitges who wandered around the town with two children in Barça shirts at the end of the 20th century has now become the great footballing enemy. Little could Mourinho have imagined that in 2008 when he already saw himself reigning at Camp Nou.