How Jose Mourinho Has Performed at Each Club Since Leaving Real Madrid

José Mourinho is now expected to become the next Real Madrid manager, with reports suggesting the 63-year-old is in advanced talks over a return to the Bernabéu.

Both Mourinho and Madrid president Florentino Pérez have remained tight-lipped on the subject in recent days. However, the current Benfica manager has been tipped to reject a contract extension offer in Portugal and complete a move to Spain at the official end of the domestic season.

It would mark a second spell in Madrid for Mourinho, who led Los Blancos between 2010–2013. That stint swung wildly between success and failure, with Mourinho achieving one La Liga title and one Copa del Rey in his three years. He also delivered a record total of 100 points during a fabled 2011–12 campaign.

Mourinho, then at the height of his powers as a manager, received praise for being able to keep pace with—and even better—Pep Guardiola’s Barcelona side. However, he was unable to deliver European success, exiting the Champions League at the semifinal stage three years on the spin.

His reign was also marked by acrimony, with the manager regularly getting into public disputes with journalists, league officials, opposition managers, Madrid legends and his own players. Mourinho ultimately left in 2013 by mutual consent, calling his final—trophyless—season in charge the worst of his career.

Madrid went on to win the Champions League a year later under Carlo Ancelotti, and a Mourinho return to the Bernabéu would’ve seemed outlandish for much of the last decade, given the trajectories of the man and club. However, a combination of circumstances, nostalgia and a desire to bring an out-of-control locker room to heel appears to have brought the two back into each other’s paths.

It’s clear that the Mourinho who returns to Real Madrid will not be the one who left the club all those years ago, but what has he been up since 2013? Has it all been diminishing returns, three-year death spirals and an ever-growing cantankerousness? Or has the “Special One” been able to show what made him shine in the first place?

Here’s how Mourinho has performed at each club in the intervening years between his Madrid spells.

Chelsea (2013–15)

José Mourinho holds up his one league winner’s medal since leaving Madrid. | IMAGO / Paul Marriott

Mourinho famously returned to the club that “loved” him in the summer of 2013, frequently talking about his connection with Chelsea with remarks that felt like pointed digs at Madrid.

He was unable to fully recapture the magic of his first spell in London, however.

In his first season, Mourinho described Chelsea as a “little horse” in the title race, as they fell behind Manchester City and Liverpool. However, he still played a major part in deciding the destination of the Premier League trophy as his team beat Liverpool 2–0 in late April, with Steven Gerrard’s slip to gift Demba Ba the opener going down in soccer history. Meanwhile, Mourinho’s Blues were undone by Diego Simeone’s Atletico Madrid in the Champions League semifinals.

In year two, Mourinho won his third league title as Chelsea boss—but, to date, his only domestic crown since leaving Madrid—as a Diego Costa and Eden Hazard-led team stormed the 2014–15 season. The Champions League round of 16 was as far as they would go in Europe.

Despite signing a contract extension in the summer of 2015, Mourinho was gone before Christmas after a disastrous start to the season that saw his team lose nine of their opening 16 Premier League games.

Win percentage: 58.8
League finishes: 3rd, 1st, DNF
Trophies won: Premier League (2014–15), League Cup (2014–15)

Manchester United (2016–18)

José Mourinho and Paul Pogba — José Mourinho could not take Manchester United back to the summit. | IMAGO / DeFodi

Six months after leaving Chelsea, Mourinho took on the biggest club job in England at Manchester United, succeeding Louis van Gaal.

A 4–0 defeat to his old club Chelsea in October was damaging for Mourinho’s brand, while the manager regularly clashed with referees during his first season at Old Trafford.

Mourinho’s United struggled domestically in 2016–17, finishing the 2016–17 season sixth with just 69 points—a massive 24 points behind winners Chelsea. They did, however, win the League Cup and Europa League. While a 2–0 victory over Ajax continued Mourinho’s impressive 100% record in European finals, he was widely mocked for holding up three fingers in the celebrations to indicate his team had won three trophies that season—including the Community Shield.

The following season in 2017–18 saw United earn their best Premier League finish since Sir Alex Ferguson’s departure, ending as runners-up to Manchester City. He called the achievement “one of the best jobs of my career ... because people don't know what is going on behind the scenes.”

In Europe, United were shocked by Sevilla in the Champions League last 16. After that defeat, Mourinho defended his record with a now infamous rant about “football heritage”. At the end of the season, Mourinho’s decision to name Scott McTominay as his “Manager's Player of the Year”—despite the academy graduate only making 13 league appearances—was seen as a slight against his more senior players.

After a rocky start to the 2018–19 season, which included a 3–0 home defeat to Spurs, an increasingly embattled and Hegel-quoting Mourinho found his position under threat. He was dismissed by Christmas with United 19 points off the top of the Premier League.

Win percentage: 58.3
League finishes: 6th, 2nd, DNF
Trophies won: Community Shield (2016–17), League Cup (2016–17), Europa League (2016–17)

Tottenham Hotspur (2019–2021)

Less than a year later, Mourinho was taking on another of English football’s big beasts with Tottenham—a move that rankled some supporters at both Spurs and Chelsea, due to his past affiliations.

Mourinho—who was brought in with the explicit remit of delivering trophies for one of England’s great nearly clubs—struggled to win over the fanbase in North London, who still pined for Mauricio Pochettino.

A disappointing 2019–20 season, during which the club finished 6th, was chronicled in Amazon Prime’s All of Nothing series. The documentary captured some of Mourinho’s undoubted charisma and man management, but also helped solidify his latter-career image for the social media age as little more than meme-fodder.

After starting the 2020–21 season well, beating Man Utd 6–1 and briefly looking like they might challenge for the title, Spurs fell off badly. Mourinho was dismissed days before the League Cup final, which the club ended up losing to Manchester City.

Win percentage: 51.2
League finishes: 6th, DNF
Trophies won: N/A

Roma (2021–2024)

In the summer of 2021, Mourinho returned to Italy for the first time since leaving Inter Milan over a decade before, promising to bring success to one of the continent’s sleeping giants.

Roma spent big in Mourinho’s first transfer window, bringing in the likes of Rui Patrício and Tammy Abraham. Despite this, the manager blamed the strength of his roster for a shock 6–1 defeat to Bodø/Glimt in the Conference League group stage.

Mourinho’s Roma could not keep pace in Serie A, finishing 23 points off Milan in 2021–22, but did deliver the club’s first trophy in 11 years by winning the inaugural Conference League final with a win over Arne Slot’s Feyenoord. In doing so, Mourinho became the first manager to win all three major UEFA competitions—a feat he had commemorated in the form of a tattoo.

A year later, Roma reached the Europa League final but lost to Sevilla on penalties—Mourinho’s first defeat in a major European final. After a bad-tempered match, Mourinho was caught on camera confronting referee Anthony Taylor in the car park and calling him a “f---ing disgrace.”

Mourinho departed the Italian capital in January 2024, with Roma closer to the relegation zone than the Serie A summit.

Win percentage: 49.3
League finishes: 6th, 6th, DNF
Trophies won: Conference League (2021–22)

Fenerbahçe (2024–25)

Five months after leaving Rome, Mourinho was announced as the new manager of Istanbul giants Fenerbahçe, in what was seen as a coup for the club and the Turkish Süper Lig. The pugnacious coach’s one season in Türkiye was perhaps the most irritable and controversy-riddled of his career, as he fought with opposition and league officials—sometimes literally.

Mourinho was booked 20 minutes into his league debut at Fenerbahçe for arguing with the referee, setting the tone for his time in Türkiye. In September 2024, he presented his evidence against what he perceived to be an incorrect refereeing decision in a game against Antalyaspor by placing his laptop in front of the TV cameras.

Among his many rants, he claimed he and Fenerbahçe were having to “fight opponents and the system”, while he called for the introduction of foreign referees to eliminate bias. Most notably, he was handed a three-match ban for grabbing Galatasaray manager Okan Buruk’s nose in the aftermath of a fiery Istanbul derby.

Amid the chaos, Mourinho’s team finished the 2024–25 season 11 points behind Galatasaray and failed to beat Gala or Besiktas in any encounter. He was dismissed at the start of the 2025–26 campaign after losing a Champions League playoff to Benfica.

Win percentage: 59.7
League finishes: 2nd
Trophies won: N/A

Benfica (2025–present)

Less than a month after defeat by Benfica, Mourinho joined them, returning to the club he briefly coached 25 years before.

In his (almost) one season in Lisbon, Mourinho has guided Benfica to the brink of an unbeaten season in the Portuguese top tier. Despite this, his team still sit third in the league and need results to go their way on the final day to gain Champions League qualification.

The highlight of the campaign came as he guided Benfica to a dramatic 4–2 win over Real Madrid in January, securing qualification for the knockout phase of the Champions League.

The low point came a month later against the same opposition, as Mourinho made controversial remarks in the aftermath of Vinícius Jr’s allegations of racist abuse by Gianluca Prestianni. UEFA later gave Prestianni a six-match ban for homophobic conduct, rather than racism.

Speaking after another ill-tempered match, Mourinho said: “When you score a goal like that, you celebrate in a respectful way. The words they exchange, Prestianni with Vinícius, I want to be independent. I don't comment about it.

“When he was arguing about racism, I told him the biggest person in the history of this club was black [Eusebio]. This club, the last thing it is is racist, so if in his mind it was something in relation to that, this is Benfica. There is something wrong because it happens in every stadium. Every stadium that Vinicius plays (in) something happens. Always.”

Win percentage: 59
League finishes: TBD
Trophies won: N/A

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