Jose Mourinho has ended his feud with Andre Villa-Boas and openly questioned the wisdom of his sacking by Spurs.
The Chelsea manager telephoned his former protege after his fellow Portuguese was drummed out of White Hart Lane earlier this week.
In doing so, Mourinho brought to a close the lingering animosity between the rivals.
Asked if he felt sorry for Villas-Boas, Mourinho replied: ‘Of course. When they gave him three, four or five years of contract, they did it because they trusted him and thought he was the right man to be their manager. They have a couple of bad results. I don’t think it is a reason to change the trust and change the manager.
‘But in football nothing surprises me. Every case is a different case. I don’t know what was going on. I spoke with Andre three times in the last six months — one in a manager’s meeting, another when we played against him and another time a couple of days ago. I just said, “Come on! The world didn’t finish. Let’s go! Tomorrow’s another day and another job will come, so happy Christmas!’’
‘We didn’t speak about the case because only people inside know what is going on.’
However, the Chelsea boss might have had in mind how Villas-Boas had entered into a war of words with some of his detractors, breaking a golden Mourinho rule.
‘Everyone is criticised and the point is to keep your identity and believe in yourself,’ he said. ‘If you believe in what you are doing and your ideas are the ones that you believe deeply, you don’t have to be influenced by the critics. I learned that. The dogs bark. You keep walking.
‘It’s something you have to learn. If not you lose energy, you lose concentration on the basic things of your job.’ – Mail On Sunday