Former Chelsea captain John Terry has admitted Jose Mourinho used to offer an inspiring team talk to make certain teams "suffer" - with Tottenham being one of them.
Mourinho took charge of the Blues in 2004 and guided them to back-to-back Premier League titles, while also winning the League Cup and FA Cup once in the process. He posted an excellent record in his first spell at Stamford Bridge, winning 124 of his 185 matches, before moving onto Inter Milan.
Having spent time in Italy and then at Real Madrid, Mourinho returned for his second spell at Chelsea where he looked to take over a team that had just lifted the Europa League. It didn't take Mourinho long to win another title as the Blues won the Premier League in 2014/15, with Terry spearheading Chelsea's good fortunes.
During Mourinho's time at Chelsea, they had many feisty battles against their rivals from across London, with Spurs often providing the Blues a firm test. And it has since been revealed that Mourinho used to tell his players to go and "kill" Tottenham when playing against them, with those battles usually very intense.
Speaking to beIN Sports, Terry said: "If we were two or three goals up at half time against certain teams - Spurs being one of them - he'd say 'go and kill them, go and make them suffer today."
Mourinho went on to manage Manchester United before taking up the offer to coach Tottenham in November 2019, replacing Mauricio Pochettino after five years at the club. It was a situation many fans didn't expect to occur, but Mourinho made the decision to join Spurs as they tried to bounce back from a tough start to the season.
Will Jose Mourinho return to the Premier League? Let us know in the comments below!
The 59-year-old did a relatively successful job in north London, having guided Tottenham into the Europa League in the 19/20 campaign, before leading them to the Carabao Cup final the following season. But Daniel Levy chose to sack Mourinho on the eve of the clash with Manchester City at Wembley following a disappointing run of results in the league.
Ryan Mason would take charge for the game against Pep Guardiola's side but Spurs fell to a 1-0 defeat on the day thanks to Aymeric Laporte's second-half finish. Three months after his Tottenham dismissal, Mourinho was appointed as Roma's new head coach.
After guiding Roma to the semi-final of the Europa Conference League, Mourinho offered this explanation before his side took on Leicester City. This was a year on following his sacking at Spurs, with Roma in pole position to qualify for the final of the third tier of European football.
He said, back in March: "Unfortunately football doesn’t always give what you deserve and we have to beat a very good team. Am I afraid of winning the semi-final and being sacked – no.
"I have to admit in my long career, with so many things that happen, that one (the Tottenham sack) is quite unique. But I think also Mr Levy is quite a unique person in football."
