Jose Mourinho says he has no hard feelings about his sacking by Chelsea last year but admits Blues owner Roman Abramovich is not his “friend”.
The Special One’s second departure from Chelsea was billed as mutual consent, but he now admits he was sacked.
He says there is no animosity but says he was never close to Blues owner Abramovich.
“He was never my friend,” said Mourinho. “We always had the relationship of owner-manager; very respectful relationship; we were never friends; we were never close to each other.
“I leave clubs with a very good feeling, the feeling of doing everything to succeed. I gave everything to the club. I don’t like to go back and speak specially about the bad things. I want to keep the good things, and at Chelsea I had so many good things, in terms of results, friends I have for life, an amazing empathy with the supporters.”
Mourinho does not care what kind of reception he receives from Chelsea fans. Mourinho is the most successful manager in Chelsea’s history, having won three Premier League titles across two spells, the last of which ended in December following a miserable run of form.
The Portuguese has said he does not expect a negative reaction from supporters, who continued to back him last season despite Chelsea’s on-pitch struggles.
However, Mourinho, who faced Chelsea while he was in charge of Inter Milan in the Champions League in 2010, will not concern himself with such matters and will treat the game like any other.
