The Stamford Bridge dugouts will separate the two managers on Saturday, but Louis van Gaal and Jose Mourinho have a shared history…
What’s the story? Over 16 years ago, the Dutchman was at Barcelona, having already conquered European and world football with Ajax, while Mourinho was in the early stages of his coaching evolution as part of van Gaal’s backroom staff when the Catalans fought out a thrilling 3-3 draw with a Treble-bound United in 1998. The Portuguese last year described van Gaal as “my boss”.
How did van Gaal develop Mourinho the manager?“His analysis was good,” recalled the Dutchman. “You could see he understood football.” He was made part of Barca’s coaching staff and took the reins during certain friendly matches, while van Gaal observed from the stands. Speaking in 2005, Jose said: “I have to say van Gaal is a beautiful person. He’s somebody who is a little bit like me in the sense only the people who know him well know who he is.
What lasting influence did the master have on his apprentice?“Louis loves to analyse and gives you complete control of training sessions,” said Jose. “With him you become a coach on the pitch. When I was very young [as a coach], to have in your hands Rivaldo, Ronaldo, [Luis] Figo, [Hristo] Stoichkov and coach them, it was fantastic experience. With them I got something that is very important in my methodology still: communication; to get feedback from the players. I created with Louis a very, very strong relationship and he was very important also to give me confidence. He told me things that were very important for my career.”
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