Mourinho dismisses link to Real Madrid job
Man United manager insists that his future is at Old Trafford
Jose Mourinho insisted that his future remains at Old Trafford after being linked to the Real Madrid job.
The noose around the neck of Real coach Julen Lopetegui has been tightening after the club's recent poor run.
| MAN UNITED | JUVENTUS |
The Spanish giants are seventh in La Liga after last Saturday's 2-1 loss at home to Levante - their third straight defeat in all competitions.
Since Lopetegui took charge this season, the Champions League winners have won only five out of 12 matches.
On the other hand, there were also question marks over Mourinho's position at Old Trafford earlier this season, although recent performances - a 3-2 comeback win over Newcastle United and a 2-2 draw with Chelsea -seemed to have removed some of the doubt.
The Portuguese has a contract till 2020 but, at one point, he was the bookies' favourite to be the next English Premier League manager to be sacked.
At yesterday's press conference, an Italian journalist asked Mourinho for his thoughts on being linked to the Real post, which he held from 2010 to 2013.
Mourinho replied: "No, I am happy here. I am happy to see out my contract to the very last day of that contract and I would like to stay after my contract runs out as well.
"All I am thinking about at the moment is Man United."
For now, he will be thinking about how to face Juventus without players such as Marouane Fellaini, Phil Jones, Scott McTominay, Jesse Lingard, Alexis Sanchez and Diogo Dalot.
Mourinho also deflected a question about Paul Pogba facing former club Juventus.
He said: "I don't want to speak about Pogba, I don't want to speak about individuals, I don't want to speak to the Spanish journalists because they are only interested in Real and (Juventus' Cristiano) Ronaldo.
"Now I'm going to play against one of the big clubs in the world, one of the biggest candidates of winning the competition... if you go in another direction, I also want to go in another direction."
Mourinho then talked about the Chelsea match, where he was riled up by Blues assistant coach Marco Ianni, who celebrated Ross Barkley's injury-time equaliser in front of the Manchester United bench.
Ianni was charged with improper conduct by the FA yesterday after his act led to ugly scenes at the match.
But Mourinho defended him, saying: "I want to thank Maurizio Sarri and Chelsea for their honesty. But I'm not happy that it is going too far with the young boy (Ianni). He apologised to me. He deserves a second chance. I don't think he deserves to be sacked."
But there was a light-hearted moment when a journalist asked a question in Portuguese.
"The last time I spoke in Portuguese I was in trouble," quipped Mourinho, referring to his rant in his native language after the 3-2 win over Newcastle, which resulted in him getting charged by the FA.
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