Jose Mourinho taught Chelsea players how to use genius little-known-rule that even refs didn't know at the time

Jose Mourinho once told his players to use a rule that even referees didn't know about.

Mourinho, 62, is one of the greatest managers of all time having taken charge of clubs like FC Porto, Chelsea, Real Madrid, Inter Milan, Manchester United, Tottenham Hotspur and Roma.

Currently, the Portuguese is the boss of Turkish Super Lig side Fenerbahce and has been making headlines in recent weeks due to comments made during press conferences.

Mourinho made a name for himself after multiple successful reigns around Europe and is often known as one of the best tacticians in football.

Back in 2022, former Chelsea captain John Terry recalled the time Mourinho told him and his teammate about a rule that even the referee didn't know about.

He said on beIN SPORTS: "Didn’t care about anything else, he did anything to get an edge.

“I remember, the rule was, if we were 1-0 up and the ball got delivered into the box…if two defenders went up together and both went down on the floor after, you didn’t have to go off the field of play.

"So last 10 or 15 minutes, he would sit me and Gary Cahill down and go: ‘when the ball comes in the box, make sure you both go down - bump into each other and both go down because you can’t both go off."

Terry continued: "We’d never heard of that rule ever. So ball comes over in the last 10 minutes, head it away, Gaz goes down and I think ‘I better go down’. So I dropped to the floor and the ref said ‘you two off the pitch’. I said ‘no that’s not the rule, ask the linesman’.

"Mourinho was so far ahead with those little bits and you’re talking small margins and the best managers find those little margins. Incredible."

Jose Mourinho is currently in charge of Turkish Super Lig side Fenerbahce. Image: Getty

Mourinho's way of doing things has been much-maligned and he has frequently been accused of deploying negative tactics and "parking the bus" during his coaching career.

However, Terry disputes that claim and and says he liked his team to be free-scoring on occasion.

He added: “If we were two or three goals up at half time against certain teams - Spurs being one of them - he’d say ‘go and kill them, go and make them suffer today."