Managed by José Mourinho at Manchester United and then AS Roma, Henrikh Mkhitaryan experienced two very different sides of the Portuguese coach's personality. He recounts this in his autobiography, "My Life Always at the Center."

José Mourinho was prepared to do anything to achieve his goals. This is the main takeaway from the passages related to the Portuguese coach, now at Benfica, in the autobiography of one of his former players, Henrikh Mkhitaryan (36 years old). Now at Inter Milan, the 36-year-old Armenian left Borussia Dortmund for Manchester United in 2016, without managing to justify his transfer price (over €40 million) on the pitch, or to repay Mourinho's faith in him.

A lack of effectiveness that the Portuguese then did not fail to reproach him for. "I told him: 'You've been criticizing me for a year and a half, since I arrived at Manchester United,'" writes Mkhitaryan in his book, entitled My Life Always at the Center. "Mourinho told me I was shit. I told him he was shit. A huge shit." Gradually sidelined after this incident, Mkhitaryan adds that Mourinho bombarded him with messages like: "Miki, please leave."

"Miki, please leave, so I can recruit Alexis Sanchez."

"The situation had become ludicrous," the player continues. "I responded each time with the same copy-pasted text: I'll leave if I find the right team, otherwise I'll wait until the summer. Around mid-January, the message changed slightly: 'Miki, please leave, so I can sign Alexis Sanchez.'" The midfielder finally left Manchester United for Arsenal during the winter transfer window in January 2018.

Despite everything, the two men crossed paths again at AS Roma when Mourinho was appointed coach in May 2021, two years after Mkhitaryan's loan (and then permanent) arrival, and surprisingly made up. "The first day, we hugged," recalls the Armenian international, who also praises the competitiveness that the "Special One" manages to instill in his teams.

Together, they would go on to win the 2022 Conference League. “Before the final, Mourinho covered the entire training ground with photos of the trophy, accompanied by the slogan we must win in capital letters, written everywhere,” Mkhitaryan also recalls. “In the locker rooms, in the corridors, in the bedrooms, in the kitchen, in the bathroom. We walked and thought about winning. We fell asleep and thought about winning. We smelled the food and thought about winning. Even when we peed, we thought about winning.”