Jose Mourinho
Portuguese football manager.
"I would say if all the names you wrote in the last few days are correct we would have a 50-player squad and I hate to work with big squads."
"My wife is in Portugal with the dog. The dog is with my wife so the city of London is safe, the big threat is away."[After his Yorkshire Terrier had issues with customs.]
"It will be the strongest Champions League ever. Every shark will be there."
"Look, I'm a coach, I'm not Harry Potter. He is magical, but in reality there is no magic. Magic is fiction and football is real."
"I confess that it isn't easy to enter on football with the name of someone who is already in football. I feel that with my own son. He already lives under the pressure of being a son of mine. For that I admire Rui Águas and Maldini, who managed to live with the weight of that pressure, and already did a lot."
"I studied Italian five hours a day for many months to ensure I could communicate with the players, media and fans. [Claudio] Ranieri had been in England for five years and still struggled to say ‘good morning’ and ‘good afternoon.'"
"I don't want to be, and it isn't part of my personality. I'm still going to be the same until I was today but with more responsibilities."
"What position is my wife in? Eighth, at least." [When told he was surveyed to be the 9th most influential man in the world]
"I understand why he [Alex Ferguson] is a bit emotional. He has some top players in the world and they should be doing a lot better than that... You would be sad if your team gets as clearly dominated by opponents who have been built on 10% of the budget." [on beating Manchester United in the UEFA Champions League]
"It's like having a blanket that is too small for the bed. You pull the blanket up to keep your chest warm and your feet stick out. I cannot buy a bigger blanket because the supermarket is closed. But the blanket is made of cashmere!" [During a Chelsea injury crisis]."
"If FC Porto was a club of a country with another economical power, it could have done a striking season in Europe. That team was the best I have ever coached. It was destroyed due to economical factors."
"Young players are a little bit like melons. Only when you open and taste the melon are you 100% sure that the melon is good."
"He must really think I'm a great guy. He must think that, because otherwise He would not have given me so much. I have a great family. I work in a place where I've always dreamt of working. He has helped me out so much that He must have a very high opinion of me." [When asked by the Spanish radio network Cope what he believed God thought about him.]
"Sometimes you see beautiful people with no brains. Sometimes you have ugly people who are intelligent, like scientists. Our pitch is a bit like that. From the top it's a disgrace but the ball rolls at normal speed."
"The world is so competitive, aggressive, consumive, selfish and during the time we spend here we must be all but that."
"For me, pressure is bird flu. I'm feeling a lot of pressure with the problem in Scotland. It's not fun and I'm more scared of it than football."
"A player from Man City showed half of his ass for two seconds and it was a big nightmare. But this is a real nightmare."[Comparing Petr Cech's nasty injury with Joey Barton's bottom-baring antics.]
"I told Mr Ferguson that United didn't deserve to leave Stamford Bridge with nothing." [After beating them 1-0]
"If I am hated at Barcelona, it is their problem but not mine. Fear is not a word in my football dictionary."
"If I wanted to have an easy job I would have stayed at Porto. Beautiful blue chair, the UEFA Champions League trophy, God, and after God, me."