In a lengthy interview with Prime Video, Maicon spoke about Mourinho and recounted a story from the 2010 Champions League triumph:
"Players must always believe in themselves. You train hard every day to play in the Champions League semi-finals or final, and to face Europe's top teams. Mourinho is a very special coach: one day he might not even say good morning to you, but he takes training to the extreme.
That year we faced Barcelona four times. After drawing the first leg of the group stage, we planned to lose the second leg. That loss was arranged by us to finish second in the group. Mourinho had already thought it all through. Seriously.
We wanted to qualify as group runners-up so we could meet Barcelona in the semi-finals. Mourinho wanted to play Barcelona in the semi-finals. However, we didn't expect to reach the semi-finals at that point, because we still had to get past Chelsea first. But finishing second in the group was indeed a calculated move.
Mourinho told us we had to win in Kyiv. The temperature was minus 20 degrees, and Shevchenko scored within 5 minutes. In the end, we still came back to win, which was amazing. In the semi-finals, the fans and we ourselves believed we could do it; Barcelona was the strongest team in the world at that time. After Pedro scored, I thought to myself, 'Thank God we've come this far,' and then Sneijder equalized, which changed the game. If we had been 0-1 down at halftime, the situation would have been very difficult. If you watch that game carefully, you'll see that they were actually afraid of us too; both teams had a lot of respect for each other."
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austin3451
0
confessing to match fixing
Thats not match fixing. Losing for footballing reason not financial benefits.
returnofthesaith
1
"Barcelona was the strongest team in the world at that time". Yet Jose Mourinho had the effrontery in this his second stint with Real Madrid asked that that Barcelona should be investigated in the Negreira case.
niniprtuy
2
So sometimes when the coach play wrong formation it’s Match fixing just to lose and sometimes it’s big odds
waobceirs
2
confessing to match fixing
izzysam
5
😭😭😭 ontop my money ooooo… See me carrying Inter double chance, no knowing Mourinho planned to lose
Constantinetino
2
Yeah I remember u very well Malcom,the surprising thing about that match is that Mourinho ask Eto'o to go play right back,u guys decided to pack the boss the whole match ,that's was the first to really experience Mourinho's tactical madness first hand😁😁😁👍🤦♂️
pentiumIX
2
maresca plans to lose against flamingo at the club world cup just to avoid playing Bayern at the knock out stage ... they ended up winning the club world Cup
Danadioty
1
Crap talks about planned losing 🤥🌡️
Yet they won the champions league.
SGTSingam
1
Crap talks about planned losing 🤥🌡️
Zeediklpyz
0
We see next week
sicackmsty
0
basket mouth, immaturity
Luwaemnou
1
Match Fixing 😂
Puzbdlsy
1
Mo will win it tomorrow
AFerkbvn4476
0
Mourinho is an outdated one
Saheed5050a
2
he go still chop amr
muocdikloz
4
Stop exposing what's meant to be kept secret 🤐 🤭
Gpwire
1
The Special One ☝️