I once hid in laundry basket to dodge match ban – Mourinho

Jose Mourinho

Former Manchester United coach, Jose Mourinho, has said that he once got round a two-match ban by hiding in a laundry basket so he could give a team-talk before a Champions League match.

Mourinho, sacked by Manchester United in December 2018, told BeIN Sports on Saturday how he skirted a touchline suspension on the eve of the 2005 quarter-final against Bayern Munich by getting the Chelsea kit man to help him stow away in the basket.

“I go to the dressing room during the day so I was there from midday and the game is seven o’clock. I just want to be in the dressing room when the players arrive.

“I went there and nobody sees me. The problem was to leave after. And the kit man put me in the basket. It was a little bit open so I could breathe.

“But when he is taking it outside the dressing room, the UEFA guys were following and desperate to find me so he closed the box and I couldn’t breathe. When he opened the box I was dying,” he said.