Jose Mourinho has praised Brendan Rodgers’ career, highlighting the ‘amazing’ work that he did at Celtic creating Scottish football history during his two and a half year stay in Glasgow. The two managers meet on Thursday night in the Europa Conference League Semi Final second-leg between AS Roma and Leicester City with the tie finely poised at 1-1 from the first leg.
Mourinho was asked about his opinion on his former coach at Chelsea and issued a gushing response, which shows how much ‘The Special One’ has changed from his first spell at Stamford Bridge. Speaking to the media conference ahead of the game in Italy’s capital, Mourinho was full of praise for the Irishman.
“Brendan doesn’t surprise me. With Liverpool, people forget what he did with much, much less resources than Liverpool has now.
“He did amazing and then the Scottish history (with Celtic), people forget because people doesn’t focus much on Scottish Premier League.
“To win the FA Cup with Leicester and even the Community Shield, the stability in the club, the way they play, their recruitment, it is a perfect fit, Leicester and Brendan; very, very good.”
The ex-Liverpool manager won seven trophies in a row, an Invincible Treble, a 69-game unbeaten run and numerous other successes before being replaced by Neil Lennon when he left for Leicester in February 2019. Supporters will likely recognise how impressive Rodgers’ time at the club was and a lot of people realised that there were issues at a boardroom level that lead to his departure, which was emphasised by the off-field mess of last season.
Rodgers has enjoyed success with Leicester, finishing fifth twice and winning an FA Cup; however, he will likely be unable to match the intensity of the Celtic job wherever he goes. It is a case of what might have been with Rodgers and 10IAR but the reasons for Rodgers switching from Glasgow appeared to crop up last year.
