José Mourinho has revealed that Diego Maradona always used to call him after he suffered a big defeat in some matches, but never after the ex-Real Madrid coach won a game.
The Tottenham boss was asked about the Argentine following his death on Wednesday, as the pair were close friends.
Sky Sports quote Mourinho as saying: ‘I know him well enough and in my big defeats, he would always call me. In my big victories, never. But I will miss Diego, and I am very sad but I have a smile because with him, every minute I spent with him was to laugh.’
That tells you everything you need to know about the type of person Maradona was, and also the way in which he understood how the ex-Chelsea boss operates.
Maradona knew that Mourinho might’ve occasionally needed a pick-me-up following a ‘big defeat’ but would never need his ego inflated following a win.
The Argentina legend could’ve actually been a part of Tottenham’s history if former Spurs boss Osvaldo Ardiles had a different opinion.
As Teddy Sheringham told Stadium Astro (via the Evening Standard), Ardiles was in talks to sign Maradona, although decided against doing so as he felt the forward had too much ‘baggage’ around him.
The late, great Napoli legend did, however, pull on a Tottenham shirt for one game.
In May 1986, Maradona pulled on a Tottenham shirt to appear in Ardiles’ testimonial, but arrived without any boots to wear!
Eventually, as told on talkSPORT (via the Evening Standard), the Argentine borrowed a pair of Clive Allen’s size six-and-a-half boots.
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