Football: Mourinho moves to defuse row

Mourinho was criticised after telling the BBC that he would look for a Premier League team in ‘a couple of years’.

MADRID:

Real Madrid coach Jose Mourinho tried to defuse a row caused by his remark that he wanted to return to England when he eventually left the Spanish club.

The former Chelsea boss was criticised after telling the BBC, with a laugh, that he would look for a Premier League team in ‘a couple of years’. Spanish commentators said a club of the stature of nine-time European champions Real should be deciding when Mourinho moved on, not the Portuguese.

“You don’t translate ‘a couple of years’ literally, it’s an expression you use in the English language to mean in a few years, not exactly two,” said Mourinho. “It could be two, three, four or 20 – you never know.”

Published in The Express Tribune, January 1^st, 2012.