"He was not coachable" - When Jose Mourinho explained his choice between Lionel Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo in 'GOAT' debate
The legendary Jose Mourinho, who has been at the helm of some of the biggest clubs in Europe throughout his career, appeared to choose Lionel Messi as the one player he wished he could have signed in his career.
Immediately, afterwards, however, Mourinho stated what he thought about Messi's qualities and whether he thought he could be coached or not. This was during a series of quickfire questions asked to him when he was acting as a television pundit for the UEFA Champions League final in June earlier this year.
In a video filmed by TNT Sports, the Portuguese manager weighed in on perhaps the greatest debate on footballers of our times - who is the greatest of them all, Lionel Messi or Cristiano Ronaldo?
He has, of course, worked with Ronaldo at Real Madrid and won a La Liga title together. Ronaldo was in fine fettle during his time at the Santiago Bernabeu and scored 311 goals, out of which 168 came in Mourinho's tenure. He also added 49 assists to his name under his compatriot.
"Of course, I would say the little guy. But the little guy was not coachable. But I have to say, in our generation, he was the best," Mourinho said when asked about the player he wished he could have signed in his career.
Cristiano Ronaldo and Lionel Messi have moved away from Europe's top leagues
Messi and Ronaldo, who went toe-to-toe with each other when the former was with Barcelona and the latter at Real Madrid, have moved away from Europe's top leagues now. While Messi is at Inter Miami in the MLS now, Ronaldo plies his trade for Al Nassr in Saudi Arabia.
The former - for the longest time - did not appear as if he would leave his beloved Barcelona, but he did so and moved to Paris Saint-Germain before going to the USA. Ronaldo, on the other hand, went to Juventus and his former club Manchester United after leaving Real Madrid.
Mourinho, after having achieved success with FC Porto, Chelsea, Inter Milan, Real Madrid, Manchester United and AS Roma in his career, is now the head coach of Turkish Super Lig club Fenerbahce. He moved here earlier this season after being sacked by Roma in January following a series of bad losses.
The 61-year-old is known for his tactical prowess, along with building his teams from the bottom and helping them adapt to challenging conditions across the world. His sides are known for their defensive stability and key game management skills when put to the test under difficult situations.
Fenerbahce have started the new Super Lig season well and are currently ranked fourth in the league table. They have won five out of the seven matches they have played so far, drawn one, and suffered a painful 1-3 defeat at home to arch-rivals Galatasaray on September 21.
The attacking lineup of Fenerbahce consists of Allan Saint-Maximin, Dusan Tadic and Edin Dzeko - all players with Premier League experience under their belt. Midfielders Fred and Sofyan Amrabat have plied their trade for Manchester United in the past while centre-back Caglar Soyuncu was a regular starter for Leicester City.