José Mourinho, the Portuguese coach, apparently has a gift of persuasion that allows him to hypnotize his players and even the opposing team.
The former AS Roma coach once played a trick on an opposing player during a Champions League match.
It was in 2013, when the Portuguese was the coach of Real Madrid and his team was facing Borussia Dortmund.
While his team was trailing 2-1, the Merengue coach gave instructions to an opposing player to pass them on to his player on the field.
As if by magic, the player returned and faithfully relayed what the Portuguese technician had said to him on the sidelines.
José Mourinho had indeed asked the left-back of Borussia Dortmund at the time, Marcel Schmelzer, to tell Mesut Özil to move a little further up the field.
Unaware, the Yellow and Black defender passed on the instructions to the former German international. Ironically, it was Özil who equalized a few minutes later, bringing the score back to two goals each between the two teams.
After the match, Marcel Schmelzer himself recounted the anecdote to the press. As the evening’s opponent, José Mourinho had “hypnotized” him and he had played along.
“As I was about to take a throw-in, I was surprised to see Mourinho next to me speaking seriously as if he was giving me instructions. ‘Go see Özil and tell him he needs to move faster in the middle.’
I looked at him in astonishment. I didn’t respond, but after entering the field and arriving next to Özil, I told him what he had said unintentionally.
What surprised me the most was that Özil signaled to his coach as if it was normal,” said the Borussia Dortmund defender.
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