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Jose Mourinho, Pep Guardiola and five other football managers who cried after matches

Jose Mourinho crying after Roma reach Europa Conference League final

Crying at football is not just the preserve of fans and players, as these top managers have proven.

Tears are part of footballing folklore. Usually, though, it's the players and fans with the tear-streaked faces.

Paul Gascoigne crying at Italia '90 was arguably the defining moment of the whole tournament. John Terry was reduced to tears after missing a penalty in the final of a Champions League final, although it's fair to say that touched fewer hearts.

However, managers cry too. And given that their default mode is control and authority in equal measures, when it does happen it's far more noteworthy.

Jose Mourinho

Jose Mourinho hasn't been the easiest character to empathise with over the years, but I dare say there were many who were touched by his recent display of emotion.

For a coach who has won as much as he has, you wouldn't have thought reaching a Europa Conference League final would mean all that much to him, but it obviously did with him breaking down in tears following the semi-final against Leicester.

Mourinho has generally walked into top clubs since his Inter days, but his previous magic touch has deserted him a little of late with failures at Manchester United and Tottenham.

It's a far cry from earlier in his career when he was free from pressure and fuelled by the passion to prove himself with clubs with huge potential but little expectation. That is something he has gone back to with Roma, and clearly the passion remains.

It isn't the only time Mourinho has been brought to tears, by the way. He was also caught on camera embracing Marco Materazzi and crying in 2010 after victory over Bayern Munich secured Inter the Champions League - the final part of an historic treble.

Ralph Hasenhuttl

Liverpool are such a good team nowadays that for some, beating them is all it takes to bring on the tears.

That was the case for Ralph Hasenhuttl, who just could not contain his emotions after a 1-0 win for Southampton against Jurgen Klopp's men last year.
The eccentric Austrian sank to his knees after the final whistle crying, although no one believed his excuse.
"There were tears in my eyes - because of the wind!" he joked. "When you see our guys fighting with everything they have it makes me really proud.

"You need to have the perfect game against Liverpool and I think we did that. It felt like we were under massive pressure. It is just a perfect evening." 

Apart from the wind, of course.

Dick Advocaat

When Sunderland turned to 'Little General' Dick Advocaat to save them in one of their many Premier League relegation scraps, they probably didn't expect to get a crier.
Advocaat was known as a tough taskmaster with high expectations of players and a steely personality. In fact, those were the reasons Sunderland, a club who have traditionally struggled to hold players to account, turned to him.

Say whatever you like about Sunderland, though, it's a club that gets under people's skin, as Niall Quinn famously said. Advocaat was not immune to that.

He guided Sunderland to within a point of safety going into the penultimate game of the season, but with away games to come against Arsenal and Chelsea there were certainly no guarantees.

However, following an exceptionally dogged and determined 0-0 draw at the Emirates, Sunderland were safe. Advocaat had done what he came to do and the veteran Dutchman went onto the pitch in tears.

The plan then was for Advocaat, who was 67, to retire, but Sunderland obviously relit his fire. He was still coaching as recently as 2021, six years after his solitary flirtation with the Premier League.

Julen Lopetegui

Sometimes, football comes at you fast. In 2018, everything was going brilliantly for Julen Lopetegui.
He had just led Spain to the World Cup and was already in Russia with them preparing for the finals. Not only that, but he had Real Madrid circling and he agreed to join them for the following season.

A day later, two days before Spain's first game of the World Cup, incensed Spanish Football Federation officials sacked Lopetegui. By the end of October, Real Madrid had sacked him too.

That left him needing to rebuild his reputation, and Sevilla offered him that opportunity in 2019. It proved a good decision all-round, and they qualified for the Champions League during his first campaign.

They also won the Europa League, beating Inter Milan in the final. It was all too much for Lopetegui, with the tears flowing on the pitch as he celebrated his redemption.

Pep Guardiola

If Pep Guardiola has a flaw, it is that he is as close to an artist as you're going to find in football. To him, a football pitch is his canvas, his players his paints and passes his brush strokes. Of course, it's also the source of his genius.

It is perhaps surprising, then, that he has never been known for public shows of emotion. However, that changed in 2021.

Perhaps the most memorable was when Sergio Aguero's time at Manchester City came to an end.
The Argentinian came off the bench in the final Premier League game of Man City's title-winning campaign and scored two goals. That summer, he was to leave for Barcelona.
"We love him so much," a tearful Guardiola told Sky Sports of Aguero on the Etihad pitch directly after the game. "He's a special person for all of us.

"He's so nice. He's so nice. He helped me a lot. So good. We cannot replace him. We cannot."

Prophetic words from Pep who clearly foresaw City's lengthy and ultimately fruitless summer pursuit of Harry Kane.

Mauricio Pochettino

As a player, Mauricio Pochettino was a tough and uncompromising centre-back for Paris Saint-Germain and Espanyol, among others.

Apparently, though, that image was very much against his character.

Pochettino was reduced to tears when he led Tottenham to the Champions League final and tearfully embraced his players on the pitch following the semi-final against Ajax.
Speaking about it later, he said: "My mum always says: 'He's happy, he cries. He's sad, he cries. Come on! Stop crying!'
"My mum and my other two brothers are different. My dad is more strong. I am strong but very emotional and I cry.'"

Indeed, it seems even a short drive to Barnet can reduce Pochettino to tears.

'Sometimes I take my car to go to my house, 20 minutes to Barnet, and listen to some music on the way. And the music translates to some moment in my life and I start [to cry]. Films: I cry. I cry at everything!"

So what did Pochettino's mum think of her son's tears in the Champions League final?

'My mother said to me, "You are a llorona!"' He said, before asking: "How do you say that in English?'

The closest English phrase is 'drama queen'.

Gerald Asamoah

In the interests of full disclosure, Gerald Asamoah was not Schalke's manager (as in head coach) for this one.

He had been, but when the Gelsenkirchen side's relegation from the Bundesliga was confirmed in 2021, the Ghanian was then the club's 'team manager', a role with no clearly defined duties that was essentially created to keep him involved.

While most probably don't know what Asamoah does in that role, it's hard to begrudge him it. After all, he is a big character who has a genuine love for the club.

That love for Schalke was in full view when he was interviewed in front of the television cameras after their relegation.

"I don't feel good and I can imagine how Schalke fans are crying in front of the TV right now," he said with tears in his own eyes.
"We knew what was coming but when it happens and you realise it's over, it's brutal."
With Schalke promoted back to the Bundesliga earlier this month, Asamoah will be a lot happier now, but you wouldn't be surprised if he was still crying.

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