Perhaps he is one of the best managers of the century, but the credit achieved by Jose Mourinho among the years it seems that will end sooner than later. Certainly, a similar pattern has been chasing the Portuguese during his period as a coach. A gloomy start with Real Madrid, Chelsea, and Manchester United has finished deteriorating eventually, and always during his third year with every one of those teams.
On the other hand, he is highly remembered in Porto and Inter Milan, precisely the two teams which reached the glory under him when lifting the Champions League.
Curiously, he did the feat with arguably worst squads than he is accustomed to managing, and hence the discussion if he is a better coach for teams that are not considered among the great teams.
Anyway, he also triumphed in the Europa League with Manchester United but since he won the most important competition with Inter Milan in 2010, he has not played again a final. Nowadays, he will need to redirect a hostile environment in order to make the Red Devils a serious competitor in this edition. Firstly, they face Valencia, a Spanish team who finally won their first match of the season during the last weekend.
Liverpool want to keep flying high
The defeat against Chelsea in the Carabao Cup has been the only patch in an otherwise brilliant beginning of the season for Klopp's team.
In fact, they beat PSG in a formidable match and now the face Napoli, a team that lost against Juventus but nonetheless they probably had had another result if it hadn't been for the outstanding match played by Cristiano Ronaldo.
But after saving a point at Stamford Bridge during the last weekend to stay above their London rivals, Liverpool know that a victory at the boisterous San Paolo should leave the English through an easy path to the next round.
Apparently, with both teams usually preferring to attack uncontrollably instead defending with caution, it might end in another European great night for the spectators.
Tottenham Hotspur and a hope of revival
Finally, the North Londoners are peaking again but unfortunately, they must win against Barcelona to keep reasonable chances for reaching the next round.
All of this is due to the unlikely come-back suffered against Inter Milan during the first match day when they lost a huge opportunity to beat the Italians.
In spite of Messi, Tottenham may be relieved that many players of Barcelona are yet far from their best shape, and thus they have only got 2 points in their last three matches in La Liga.
Moreover, Manchester City must win in Germany against Hoffenheim after losing with Lyon at home. Surely it was the surprise of the first match day, and now the Citizens will seek to break their streak of four winless matches in a row at the Champions League.
