A greatest-ever XI attributed to Jose Mourinho has emerged – and it is dominated by former Chelsea stars. The Portuguese is currently manager of Roma, but previously enjoyed two spells at Chelsea, Real Madrid, Inter Milan, Porto, Manchester United and Tottenham.
Mourinho departed the Premier League two-years ago after an unsuccessful term at Spurs before taking up the reigns at Roma as he returned to management in Italy.
His managerial achievements include three English top-flight titles, two Champions Leagues, a LaLiga title, four League Cups along with several other major honours.
Having worked with some of modern football’s very best talents, Mourinho supposedly revealed to the Obi One Podcast who he would pick if he was building a dream team of players he has coached – although the post including his selection has since been deleted.
Mourinho worked with legendary Madrid goalkeeper Iker Casillas during his time in Spain but opted for Chelsea icon Petr Cech between the sticks.
The pair won three Premier League titles during their time together at Stamford Bridge, with Cech lifting the acclaim for the third time during his final year at the club before joining Arsenal.
Setting up in a 4-3-3 formation, Mourinho picked three former Chelsea players in his defence, with William Gallas, John Terry and Ricardo Carvalho all featuring. The absence of Sergio Ramos was the most obvious missing defender given the Spaniard’s outstanding achievements for both club and country.
Inter Milan legend Javier Zanetti occupies the right-back position in Mourinho’s team. Mourinho was spoilt for choice in midfield having coached the likes of Xabi Alonso, Deco and Wesley Sneijder, but again opted for an engineroom dominated by Blues players.
Claude Makelele takes up the defensive midfield position, with England and Chelsea favourite Frank Lampard partnering him in the middle of the park.
JOSE MOURINHO’S DREAM TEAM
GK: Petr Cech
RB: Javier Zanetti
CB: John Terry
CB: Ricardo Carvalho
LB: William Gallas
CM: Claude Makelele
CM: Frank Lampard
CM: Mesut Ozil
RW: Cristiano Ronaldo
LW: Eden Hazard
ST: Didier Drogba
Lampard shared a brilliant relationship with Mourinho during the pairs time together in England as Chelsea enjoyed a period of dominance in the early 2000s when they battled with United for the Premier League.
Mesut Ozil was the other surprise midfield pick. Mourinho and the former Madrid and Arsenal midfielder shared a tense relationship during their time together at the Santiago Bernabeu but have since made amends.
In attack, Zlatan Ibrahimovic would largely have been expected to start upfront given Mourinho and the Swede worked together at both Inter and Man United, but Didier Drogba is instead preferred.
Drogba starred under Mourinho during two spells at Chelsea and is widely regarded as one of the club’s greatest-ever strikers given his excellent goalscoring heroics.
He is flanked by Cristiano Ronaldo and Eden Hazard who both starred under the guidance of Mourinho at Real Madrid and Chelsea respectively.
