"If one day I feel less sadness losing a game" - Mourinho insits his desire to work has not changed

Jose Mourinho recently celebrated 25 years as a head coach, yet he insists his desire to coach remains as strong as ever.

In an interview with UEFA, via Sportal, the Benfica manager affirmed that his daily focus is the same as it was on day one, but he also looked ahead.

"If one day I feel less joy waking up early to come to work, if one day I feel less happiness winning a game, if one day I feel less sadness losing a game, if anything changes, that's a red light flashing."

The 62-year-old coach recalled a conversation with Alex Ferguson before the Manchester United vs Real Madrid clash in 2013, asserting that the end is not near.

"I was in his office before the game and I asked him: 'Sir Alex, does this change over time? In the sense of, before a game of this magnitude, the tension, the adrenaline building up.'

And he told me: 'No, it doesn't change.' More than 10 years have passed, and my feelings haven't changed. In other words, there are no red lights; I'm still the same."

Ten clubs, 25 years, and 26 titles later, Mourinho, in a more altruistic mood, admitted a desire to slightly alter how he experiences each match.

"The other day, even in conversation with my staff, I was saying, 'we need to enjoy the good things a bit more, not in a crazy way, obviously, because then, when bad things happen, there's no escape. They grab us, failure grabs us and doesn't let us go. We're forced to sleep poorly after a game we've lost.'"

"The life of a player and a coach is the best life in the world until the game. The game is, let's say, the ecstasy. And after the game comes the joy of victory, the frustration of defeat.

"My motivation is what I do and what I want to do, not what I've done. I don't have much time to reflect, nor do I want to reflect," José Mourinho emphasised, proud of the path he has forged.

The Benfica coach, however, reserves any exaltation of past achievements for the end of his career: "Now I don't have time, nor is it part of my mentality. I always say, 'they can steal everything from me, but the history I've made, no one can steal.' But that's it. When you're active, when you're working, when you have ambitions, what's been done doesn't count."