Once under the tutelage of veteran manager Jose Mourinho, Mumbai City FC’s manager Jorge Costa has surely come a long way in his journey. Costa played as a central defender at FC Porto back in 2004 when Mourinho was making strides in the alleys of football management.
Speaking in an interview recently, the current manager of Tottenham Hotspur recalled a moment when Porto were two goals down against a team named Belenenses at half-time and Costa decided to stand up and motivate his team, turning the fixture on his head.
You can tell Jorge Costa is a Jose Mourinho student https://t.co/RCCa5gTY3t
— Rohan Alvares (@toi_rohanA) October 30, 2019
"One time, we were losing 2-0 at half-time and I was fuming heading to the locker-room. He told me to wait outside just two minutes, he did the dirty work for me. We ended up winning 3-2."
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Mourinho was explaining the difference between a captain and a leader, bringing out this example from down the memory lane. He expressed that the captain is always not the leader and in crux situations like these, true leaders emerge. He mentioned that Costa’s talk with the team at half time before he went into the dressing room was crucial in Porto’s comeback in the match.
Costa scored two goals in the match and orchestrated a massive comeback to hand Porto a well-deserved victory. Mourinho stated that he was left speechless by witnessing Costa’s leadership qualities and his unshaken spirit in his abilities.
Jose is making some good points on the difference between a captain and a leader.
— Genius (@GeniusMUFC) December 13, 2019
Worth a watch. pic.twitter.com/6BQHAV83un
He’s undoubtedly a protégé of Mourinho whose coaching style, if not completely but to an extent, is inspired by his boss at Porto. Usually relying on counter-attacks, much like Mourinho, Costa is slowly but steadily getting up to speed with Mumbai City FC.
His immense experience in Europe is surely an added advantage but given the struggling state of his team as of now, Costa could surely instill some of his fearless and innate leadership charisma that he successfully displayed during his time at Porto.
Mumbai City FC currently sit on the eighth spot in the ISL table and face the undefeated side of the competition so far, Bengaluru FC on Sunday.
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Featured image courtesy: Twitter /@MumbaiCityFC
