Jose Mourinho: Ander Herrera Is One Of The Smartest Players I Have Worked With

Jose Mourinho has heaped praises on Ander Herrera, dubbing the midfielder as one of the smartest players he has come across in his managerial career.

The Manchester United boss was speaking to budding sports students in a University in Lisbon, and was in an upbeat mood throughout, cracking jokes and signing autographs later on.

Petter Skogsletten, an attendee at the lecture, documented everything the Portuguese manager said, and revealed that the 55-year-old could not stop raving about Herrera throughout.

“Mourinho talked a lot about Herrera, saying he is one of the smartest players he has had during his career,” Skogsletten revealed. ”Mourinho also told about the corner line that made the final. And as he himself had not planned!

”Before the match, Mourinho had made it clear that Henrikh Mkhitaryan would be out of the box on offensive deathballs and dodge Ajax if they were to be in contravention.

“Suddenly Herrera took hold of Mkhitaryan and sent him in front of the keeper, while Herrera would take the pitch outside the box. Mourinho said he was so frustrated that he tore the fourth quarter and said ‘What the hell is going on?’

”Mourinho had later understood that Herrera had noticed something even the United coach had not remembered.

“It turned out Herrera had taken responsibility in the situation. The reason was that the Mkhitaryan had a yellow card, so if Ajax suddenly put in a counterattack, and then Mkhitaryan had felt the player, he would have been expelled with a 1-0 lead.

”In addition to preventing potential disaster in a contradiction, Herrera’s moves to United Jubilee also led. For the same corner, Mkhitaryan poked United’s second scoring in the match.

“Mourinho said he is incredibly pleased to have such players who can handle situations on their own and adjust.”

 

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