Former Manchester United manager Jose Mourinho has praised Ole Gunnar Solskjaer and [Erik] ten Hag for the roles they played in their teams remarkable victories over Real Madrid and PSG respectively. United became the first team in the history of the European Cup to overturn a 2-0 first-leg home deficit as Marcus Rashford’s stoppage-time VAR penalty sealed a memorable comeback in Paris on Wednesday.
Mourinho’s former side are through to the quarter-finals of Europe’s top-tier competition for the first time in five years and he was full of praise for the Norwegian caretaker boss. The dramatic win followed Ajax’s shock success at another of the Portuguese’s former clubs Real Madrid and speaking to RT, he was asked to choose his ‘Special One’ from the midweek European matches.
“In terms of players, I was immediately thinking about [Dusan] Tadic, because he was a key player in that amazing match,” Mourinho said. “But I think independent of the performances, Ajax and Manchester United results are phenomenal results, and if the responsibility in the bad days is for the managers, the responsibility of the good days is then also for the managers. “So for me, [Erik] ten Hag from Ajax and Solskjaer from Manchester United. Incredible results, so credit to them.”
Real’s defeat to Ajax followed back-to-back El Clasico defeats and increased pressure on manager Santiago Solari.
Former Los Blancos president Ramon Calderon told Sky Sports News that Mourinho is the first choice if there was a change in the Bernabeu dugout, but the 56-year-old, who left Real in 2013, says he is “not desperate to work at all”. “Honestly I don’t know, speculations are speculations,” he said. “I never hide it, I’m in a very calm situation. I’m not desperate to work at all, I’m studying, I’m doing things that I can’t do when I’m working.
“I’m on this side of the cameras, which is a good perspective for me too. “I don’t know, probably I hope to be working in the summer. Working happily in the next pre-season, June, July. “But there is nothing at all to say. I promise if one day there is anything to say, I will let you know.”