Mourinho still awaiting honour

 

Mourinho is still awaiting a gesture from the UEFA to mark his 100 matches and the ball is now in the court of the European organisation. Mourinho spoke ironically at a press conference after the Manchester City match, thanking the European football body for the plaque which in fact he had not received.
His irritation stemmed from a chat with another manager who did receive the honour. Mourinho could still receive it, of course. Sir Alex Ferguson received his on 9 March 2004, and in fact Mourinho was there too, for the ceremony took place just before a historic game in Mourinho's career - the night his Oporto side knocked Manchester United out of the Champions League.
Sir Alex made it 100 matches in Europe's biggest competition in the first leg of the tie against Oporto, a match which Oporto won 2-1. At that game, just as happened to Mourinho in Manchester, there was no plaque, nor honour, nor anything.
Will Mourinho get the plaque in the end?
It was at the second-leg tie, his 101st game, at Old Trafford, when the UEFA honoured Ferguson. They presented him with a metal plaque, with the UEFA emblem on it in three dimensions, and also with an engraving commemorating the fact of reaching a total of 100 Champions League games and the date of the 100th match - 25th February 2004.
Alex Ferguson met up with his Portuguese friend on the day of the Manchester City - Real Madrid game, and asked him if he wasn't going to receive an honour as the Scotsman himself had.
In fact, on the day he received the much-vaunted plaque, Fritz Ahlstrom of UEFA also presented the United manager with a painting which depicted the memorable Champions League final at Barcelona in 1999 when Manchester United beat Bayern Munich. This was Ferguson.