Search icon

Sport

27th Dec 2015

Xavi’s comments on Jose Mourinho’s footballing philosphy are so very Xavi

Style v Results

Darragh Murphy

Jose Mourinho’s stock has never been lower.

Sacked from Chelsea for the second time in eight years, he delivered the Blues their worst start to a top flight season since 1978 and continued his record of failing to spend more than three years in any single job.

While Chelsea fans never truly turned on him, the team’s negative playing style under the Portuguese drew scorn from pundits and footballers, with former Barcelona midfielder Xavi becoming the most recent to throw his two cents in.

Jose-Mourinho-Spurs

Xavi will go down as one of the greatest ever and redefined the term ‘creative midfielder’ throughout his career but the Spanish legend has revealed that Mourinho’s win-at-all-costs mentality is very different to how he sees the game.

“He [Mourinho] always wanted to win at any price and that shows in the way he goes about things,” Xavi told Record.

Xavi

“I respect that philosophy, but winning at any cost means you can’t stay true to a playing style. For me, the means don’t always justify the ends.

“I have a lot of respect for him, he has achieved great things, but I see football in a different way to Mourinho.”