(ESPN) Jose Mourinho has said that Real Madrid deserved to win the Champions League during his three-year spell at the club.
Mourinho won the La Liga title and the Copa del Rey but failed to claim a long-awaited 10th European Cup at the Bernabeu.
The Portuguese boss led the team to three consecutive semifinals and said the defeat to Bayern Munich during the 2011-12 season was his biggest disappointment.
“That season, Real Madrid were the best team in Spain and also the best in Europe,” he told Marca. “That’s why it was so hard for us to deal with going out to Bayern in the Champions League.
“That night is the only time in my career as a coach that I’ve cried after a defeat. I remember it well… Aitor [Karanka] and I pulled up in front of my house, in the car, crying…It was very hard because we were the best that season.
“We had a very clearly defined playing identity. We were always very well organised defensively above anything else on the pitch and everyone knew exactly what they had to do.
“And we were capable of making transitions that were very explosive, quick and direct towards the objective, always looking towards the goal with connections that were almost unstoppable.
“The truth is that team deserved to win La Liga and the Champions League.”
Madrid claimed La Decima under Carlo Ancelotti a year after Mourinho left the club and went on to win the Champions League four times in five seasons with Zinedine Zidane.
Before the coronavirus pandemic halted the sport, Mourinho’s Tottenham were knocked out of the competition after a 4-0 aggregate defeat to RB Leipzig.
Mourinho said he considers football’s return as a “public service,” and prefers to finish the season even if it is played behind closed doors.
“If we play the nine league games that remain, it would be good for each one of us, good for football and good for the Premier League. It would be a good sign,” he added.
“I like to think that football is never behind closed doors because there will be TV cameras there and, as a result, there will be millions of people watching it.”
