Former Premier League winger Shaun Wright-Phillips has spoken about two crazy premonitions Jose Mourinho had at Chelsea in an exclusive interview with SPORTbible.
During a three-year spell at the West London club, Wright-Phillips won a Premier League and FA Cup title under 'the Special One' and got a glimpse into exactly why he earned that title.
Mourinho has had several stints in the Premier League including two spells at Chelsea, a rather dismal two years managing Tottenham and what he once deemed was his 'greatest achievement', guiding Man United to a second placed finish in 2017-18. During his time in England though, the most successful period was undoubtedly his first time managing in England at Chelsea, in which Shaun Wright-Phillips was a part of and two moments in particular stand out to the former midfielder.
Wright Phillips told SPORTbible: "He just had the vision, I always felt like he was one step ahead of everyone even when he dealt with the media and the answers he would give.
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"I remember I’d been playing in all the cup games that season but then he dropped me for Tottenham. He said 'I think we’re going to go 2-0 down but then I’ll bring you on and we’ll draw then go to White Hart Lane and win the replay 2-1'. I was thinking he was just trying to make me feel better for not playing so I brushed it off.
"He ended up bringing me on in the 37th minute after we went 2-0 down and sure enough we drew the game and then won the replay 2-1 at White Hart Lane. It always felt like he knew what was going to happen before it did."
It was actually Wright-Phillips who scored the winner in the replay and if it was any other manager in world football, you might have questioned the legitimacy of such an outrageous claim but with Mourinho, it was always within the realms of possibility.
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Chelsea went on to win the FA Cup after beating Manchester United in the final and again, it was Jose's prophecy that came true.
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"He started me in the final and he pulled me and Paulo (Ferreira) to the side before the game and just said 'stop Ronaldo.' I think he appreciated my defensive attributes having played as a wing-back at Man City."
"He told us 'If you stop Ronaldo, I think we will win the game 1-0.' and that's exactly what happened."
Chelsea did win the game 1-0 thanks to an extra-time goal from Didier Drogba and Jose's foresight to try and limit the Portuguese winger played a huge part in that. Wright-Phillips enjoyed three years at the club before returning for a second spell at City, he then joined QPR before ending his career in the USA.
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Shaun was speaking to SPORTbible ahead of the Emriates FA Cup final between his old side Manchester City and his dad (Ian Wright)'s former team Crystal Palace. To celebrate the FA Cup, Emirates and the FA joined forces to create a special five-a-side football tournament, which took place on 30th April at St George’s Park and featured former players such as Shaun, Ben Foster, Shola Ameobi and Jermain Defoe.
Topics: Jose Mourinho, FA Cup, Cristiano Ronaldo
Matthew Dove