“I was scared of Mourinho” –Mikel

Former Tremendous Eagles captain, Mikel Obi, has revealed how scared he was taking part in below Jose Mourinho throughout his time at Chelsea.

Mikel, who retired from soccer at 35 in September, received each main honour doable in his 11-year spell at Stamford Bridge after he was signed by Portuguese Mourinho in 2016.

The Nigerian, certainly one of Chelsea’s greatest unsung heroes, stated Mourinho’s strategies of getting his message throughout to gamers within the dressing room was scary to him.

The previous Tianjin TEDA and Trabzonspor man recounted how the Portuguese coach tore Mohamed Salah to shreds at half time, when the Egyptian was largely nameless in a recreation.

“I used to be petrified of Jose Mourinho,” Mikel advised Mail Sports activities.

“I used to be positively petrified of him. I imply, this man, the issues he did to gamers, but it surely’s only a method of him passing his message throughout, attempting to get the very best out of the gamers.

“I keep in mind what Jose Mourinho did to Mohamed Salah, the man was crying within the dressing room within the second half. I believe he was having a nasty recreation. After which clearly Mourinho got here in and ripped into him, massively ripped into him.

“Salah was in tears. After which what occurred? Mourinho didn’t let him again onto the pitch for the second half. He took him off. He ripped into him after which acquired him off.”

He added that Belgian playmaker, Eden Hazard, was one of many laziest gamers he performed with at Chelsea.

“The worst, the laziest footballer I’ve ever seen in my life. However then come the weekend, Eden Hazard produces – he was the person of the match. And he is available in with the trophy and he’s like, ‘come on guys, see?’

“I truly assume whenever you have a look at Eden Hazard now, he’s misplaced lots of weight. However when he was at Chelsea, the night time earlier than a recreation, after dinner, he sits there for like 20 minutes after, he’s consuming rice pudding… he likes his meals!

“However then Eden Hazard goes to mattress, wakes up within the morning and on a Saturday, 3pm, he’s there. We simply let him do no matter he desires.”

He additionally recounted how gamers knew their supervisor can be sacked below Roman Abramovich.

“We at all times had a gathering with Roman. As soon as the group was not doing nicely, he got here in and had a chat with us. Then he sits down, he has this man, his buddy, who sits with him – he’s the interpreter. After which he begins shouting and screaming in Russian

After which the man interprets what he stated in English, and he begins screaming after which goes, ‘You realize what, you guys return now and play soccer and begin profitable.’

“If we’re not profitable, the subsequent time Roman is available in, he flies in together with his helicopter and involves the coaching floor and that’s it, we all know the supervisor’s gone. As soon as he flies in together with his helicopter, the supervisor is gone.”