FEATURE | 2004 Champions League final revisited: The night the “Special One” was born

The 2003/04 Champions League final took place on the 26^th of May at the Arena AufSchalke in Gelsenkirchen, Germany between FC Porto and AS Monaco.

Porto, nicknamed the Dragões (Dragons), lifted the prestigious trophy under the stewardship of manager José Mourinho following a 3-0 victory thanks to goals from Carlos Alberto (39’), Deco (71’), and Dmitrij Alenichev (75’).

Teenage forward Alberto opened the scoring just before half-time following a superbly executed volley past Monaco goalkeeper Flavio Roma. The Brazilian was making just his 10^th start for the club after joining from Fluminense five months prior in a €2.5m deal.

The 25-year-old Deco added a second to ease the nerves heading into the final 20 minutes of the game after coolly converting Alenichev’s precise pull-back. The creative playmaker was a masterful technician, and his performances with the Dragões earned him a move to Spanish giants Barcelona for a hefty €21m fee in the summer 2004.

Alenichev sealed the historic victory, latching onto a loose deflected ball and powering home an emphatic half-volley. The second-half substitute came on in the 60^th minute and quickly made an impact, repaying José Mourinho’s trust. Alenichev, like Alberto, was another played who was signed for a relatively low fee, with the Russian joining the northwestern club for a fee in the region of €3m.

Monaco, a team that possessed many talented players such as Patrice Evra and Fernando Morientes among others, barely laid a glove on the Portuguese champions, mainly due to Mourinho’s tactical masterclass.

Les Rouge et Blanc head coach, 35-year-old Didier Deschamps, guided his free-scoring side to the club’s first ever European cup final and defeated the likes of Real Madrid and Chelsea in the process. On no account were the French side, pushovers but when matched against Mourinho’s resilient, tactical and technical Porto, it turned out to be a near shutout.

It was almost incomprehensible that Porto could win the Champions League ahead of clubs such as Real Madrid, AC Milan and Arsenal, with the latter lifting the Premier League trophy in the same season, unbeaten in 38 games and branded the “Invincibles”.

Porto were priced at 50/1 to win the trophy before the tournament began, underlining the size of the achievement that the Portuguese club, managed by a relatively unknown 41-year-old, could lift the most glamorous trophy in club football. A truly remarkable feat in Mourinho’s fledgling managerial career.

Mourinho, in an interview with The Coaches’ Voice, later recounted his monumental achievement at Porto, explaining:

“The incredible thing was that because I was working in a club before Porto, Leiria of course, I was working with a club without the financial potential to think big, to buy big and to scout in the, top, let’s say, places, I was really aware of lots of young talent in smaller teams.

We were not afraid to completely change the direction of Porto by getting the best young players in the smaller clubs in Portugal. We didn’t get one single player by millions or coming from top clubs. Everybody was young, was hungry, had big motivation, had big desire and when I started working with them in the next pre-season, I immediately answered a few question marks that I had, which was their psychological dimension to adapt to a different reality and to cope with that pressure, to cope with that responsibility to come from a smaller team to one of the big clubs in Portugal.

The main changes was that in the UEFA Cup we considered ourselves one of the best teams and in the Champions League we were not one of the best teams. So, when in the Champions League group phase we get immediately Real Madrid in our group and then in the first knockout Manchester United.

In the UEFA Cup, our group phase was a team from Poland, a Turkish team Denizlispor and then we get, OK, Lazio and Celtic. But, the Champions League is the Champions League, so we know that we are not the best team and we need to reformulate a little bit, our way of thinking (about) the game because many people think that talent is the only way to win football matches, but there is also the strategic side of the game, and sometimes you need that.

Maybe one day, I’ll tell everything about my career, maybe I’ll never tell. But the night before that game, so without knowing what was going to happen, I was in the hotel in Manchester before the game and I had one agent to take me to another hotel to meet the CEO of a big English club. Not the club that I moved for; it was not Chelsea.

So, I had the doors open even before that. Then obviously you do that, you win the Champions League, makes it obviously different, different times because at that time I remember that 2004/05, only two managers from abroad came to England, who were Champions League winners and UEFA Cup winners. It was me and (Rafael) Benitez. Different periods. Now it is so much easier to come, at that time was really difficult.”

The interview portrays a truly fascinating insight into the strategic psychological plan that José used to construct his triumphant UCL winning squad. Mourinho recognised that his players may not have been as talented as other sides in the competition, thus placing extra emphasis on formulating a tactical approach to matches.

During his short time as Head Coach of União de Leiria, he clearly noted the pool of young talent in Portugal and that transitioned into his spell at Porto, which subsequently led to devising a new recruitment strategy which ultimately paid dividends.

Despite the Dragões; historic win in Germany, perhaps the most memorable moment from their UCL campaign came two months prior at Old Trafford, as Mourinho ran down the touchline celebrating after Francisco Costinha’s last-minute equaliser sent Sir Alex Ferguson’s Manchester United team crashing out of the competition in the last 16.

This clip has since become one of the most iconic moments in recent football history and almost foreshadowed the man who we now know today as a ‘box office’ manager. Lifting the European cup in Germany ignited José’s self-belief, and later that year he self-proclaimed himself as the ‘Special One’ in a press conference where he was introduced as the new Chelsea manager.

“Please don’t call me arrogant because what I’m saying is true. I’m European champion, so I’m not one (out) of the bottle, I think I’m a special one,” he said.

Mourinho has enjoyed a glittering career, having twice been crowned Champions League winner whilst winning eight league titles in four different countries. The man from Setúbal, Portugal became one of the most recognisable managers in the history of the game and will certainly go down alongside the greats.

The now-60-year-old currently manages A.S. Roma after joining the club in the summer of 2021, with the Portuguese coach winning the UEFA Conference League in his debut season, ending the club’s 14-year wait for silverware.

Back on 26^th of May 2004, was the night the ‘special one’ was born.

Mark Marston | Get Football