Even for a man who seemed wary of fuelling the toxic rivalry between Manchester United and Liverpool, Jose Mourinho could not resist a little dig at his rivals on Saturday.
So, despite United sitting in sixth place in the Premier League and Liverpool in second, is tomorrow’s clash still the biggest fixture in English football?
‘I don’t know,’ came Mourinho’s reply, ‘but I know that Manchester United is the biggest club in this country. I know, you know, everybody knows. I am sorry. It is easy to know.
‘I can feel the rivalry is big and, for sure, it is a big match. Around the world, people will look to this match with special eyes.’
He has been around the Premier League long enough to know what this means. ‘Three points plus the emotional side of it,’ as he put it.
Mourinho believes he can control that emotion. After Jurgen Klopp drew comparisons between the two managers and suggested they have ‘the same kind of angriness’, the United boss claimed he could keep his cool better than his excitable rival.
‘I’m not sure he is so calm as I am,’ said Mourinho. ‘Probably we have some qualities that are similar. For sure, we have other qualities that make us really different persons and managers.’
The image of Mourinho kicking a water bottle in anger on the Old Trafford touchline in November sprang to mind. The 53-year-old was also reminded of that celebration in March 2004 when he ran down the touchline and slid on his knees after Costinha’s late goal for Porto at Old Trafford.
‘I can still run,’ he said with a smile. ‘It’s no problem. The problem is to score a winning goal in the last minute.’
At one point, Mourinho lifted the mood by answering a reporter’s phone ringing on the desk and announced to his audience that it was a lady from radio station talkSPORT on the other end.
He certainly seemed relaxed enough. ‘Calm week, no problems,’ he said, confirming that Zlatan Ibrahimovic, Marcos Rojo and Luke Shaw should all be fit.
‘I just want to win the next match,’ he said. ‘And no matter what happens against Liverpool, I’ll want to win against Stoke.
‘So many big matches, I wouldn’t say (I am) nervous. Not at all. But that desire to play, that the match be tomorrow and not Sunday. I have to wait two days. Everybody wants the game. I am sure Jurgen is the same and the Liverpool players. So let’s make a big match.’
He acknowledged that United are a different team to the one that stifled Liverpool in the goalless draw at Anfield in October.
United are on a run of nine straight wins, assuming a swagger that was missing in the early months of his Old Trafford reign.
‘Because the results are better than before changes a lot of things,’ he said. ‘I had less time working with my players. Now we know each other better, we have a certain way to think and play.
‘Against big opponents, big players, good managers, everything is more difficult but we are going to try. We did it against Arsenal and Tottenham. We are going to try to do it against Liverpool.
‘Arsenal could not be in control of that match. Tottenham could not be in control of that match. Let’s see if Liverpool can.
‘They are a very good team. I have felt for many years, because they have not been champions for a long time, there is a great emotion around that.
‘They are second, five points from the top. There is a reason for everybody to feel excited about that. But we just don’t have good performances, we have good results. We play at home, not away. Little details that change a bit.’
Mourinho is keen to exploit home advantage. He felt United’s fans were subdued in Tuesday’s EFL Cup semi-final win over Hull City and urged them to raise their game for Liverpool.
‘It’s a question of having a little extra in a match which for them means a bit more,’ he said. ‘They have to make us feel that feeling we felt at Anfield. For Liverpool fans it was more than a match.
‘In modern football, there is no more intimidation. These guys are used to strong atmospheres. Our fans cannot intimidate the Liverpool players. What they can do is give something more to ours. That little extra.
‘Our boys, with a special support, they can have a special performance.’