The Art of Being Bullish

In the aftermath of the first leg Champions League semi-final at Stamford Bridge, a game that Chelsea won by a single goal, reports appeared suggesting that “Mourinho is Bullish”. That’s one way of putting it, but in the light of his extraordinary outburst against Cristiano Ronaldo, delivered with a vehemence which proves conclusively that he regards the United player as a major threat, there are many who have been left wondering whether the little Portuguese interpreter is buckling under the strain.

What particularly incensed him was Ronaldo’s comment: “We all know how he is. He always has something to say when he is not happy…Jose Mourinho doesn’t know how to admit his own failures.”

Outside the narrow confines of the Chelsea faithful, you wouldn’t find many who would argue with that, but the surprising thing is the extent to which Mourinho has allowed Ronaldo’s remarks to get under his skin – so much so that the alleged master of ‘mind games’ launched into an attack on the United star’s “uprightness” and “maturity” and declared: “If he says that it is a lie that Manchester United have conceded some penalties this season which have not been awarded against them, he is lying. And if he lies he will never reach the level that he wants to reach.”

It’s difficult to read these words without believing that Mourinho is rattled and suspecting that he’s cracking up. How can a team ‘concede’ penalties if they are not actually awarded? And if a player ‘will never reach the level that he wants to reach’ if he lies, does that not apply to Mourinho and his players also?

Or are we all expected to subscribe to the utopian notion of the absolute honesty and integrity of Jose Mourinho and everyone at Chelsea, where nobody ever lies or cheats or dives or plays mind games or harangues officials or attempts to undermine and destabilise the opposition?

Because if we are, one thing is for sure. You definitely can’t get more ‘bullish’ than that.