The hair is whiter now.
Mourinho has portrayed himself as “more altruistic” and “less egocentric”, which will no doubt amuse those who have followed his career.
The Benfica manager has even insisted he has not returned to his homeland to “wage war” after reaching out to Porto president Andre Villas-Boas – his former colleague – and Sporting president Frederico Varandas.
Yet the obsession remains.
“Others accept defeat, but he fights that,” Peseiro said. “Even now, he doesn’t accept losing. He lives for football.
“Normally, when you age, you understand. ‘I lose, no problem, it’s life’ – but he’s still the same. He has less friends than others because the focus is football, football, football. He’s a passionate guy. He doesn’t like to lose. He wants to win.”
It won’t come as a surprise, then, that in his first week at Benfica, Mourinho took aim at the video assistant referee.
He also spoke directly to referee Sergio Guelho at half-time to ask why he had not booked Rio Ave goalkeeper Cezary Miszta for slowing the game down during a 1-1 draw.
And he’s not exactly been shy in critiquing his own side in public, claiming they were “naive” after conceding a late equaliser.
Sound familiar?
Kalou was 20 when he joined Chelsea and walked into a heavyweight dressing room fresh from winning back-to-back Premier League titles under Mourinho.
The Ivorian quickly realised his new manager was a straight talker.
“What I liked about him the most was his honesty,” he said. “He will never sugar-coat anything. As a player, I respected that.”
Kalou felt the full force of Mourinho’s sharp tongue even after the Portuguese left.
After watching Kalou score against his Inter Milan side, in 2010, Mourinho knocked on the Chelsea team bus post-match and asked his former player to come outside.
“When you were with me, you didn’t score like this,” he told him. “Be careful!”
Football has changed, of course.
But Mourinho made it clear to his Benfica players following his appointment that he would be “very direct”.
As well as pledging he would say a “lot of good things”, he also vowed to tell them “a lot of bad things”.
Arabic