Sporting boss Ruben Amorim reveals text from Jose Mourinho after beating Arsenal

After a 2-2 draw in Lisbon in the first leg of their last-16 showdown, the Portuguese side forced extra-time at the Emirates after a stunning long-range chip from Pedro Goncalves cancelled out Granit Xhaka’s opener.

Arsenal looked the team more likely to find a breakthrough in extra-time but veteran goalkeeper Antonio Adan made a string of fine saves before denying Gabriel Martinelli in the shootout as Sporting progressed to the quarter-finals.

The likes of Juventus, Manchester United and Mourinho’s Roma could await Sporting in the next round, and Amorim revealed he has already received a cheeky text from his compatriot.

Asked about comparisons with Mourinho, and whether he could be even more in-demand after beating Arsenal, Amorim replied: ‘The new Mourinho? There will never be a new Mourinho.

‘Mourinho is one of a kind. He’s already texted me, “The old and the new [Mourinho] are still in, I’ll see you in the next stage!”

‘But there won’t be another Mourinho.

‘And I won’t forget what we’ve gone through this year, and that can happen again. We spoke four weeks ago about me potentially losing my job, I’m not really worried about that.

‘And all the words I had before the game, even going through, the objective is that I’m very happy here, the objective is to win one more league for Sporting – which is very important.

‘But I don’t know what is going to happen tomorrow, but that’s not going to worry me because everything in my life has happened very quick without really looking for much.

‘The new Mourinho I won’t be, but I’m happy to carry on at Sporting’s project.’

Reflecting on his side’s performance against the Premier League leaders, Amorim continued: ‘I saw a lot of maturity from my players. We went behind in both games, we managed to make our way back both times.

‘Obviously we needed to have the technical, physical and mental capacity to keep up with them – a team that plays a very different rhythm compared to our league.

‘We needed to have a good day and the players were really good. More than the result, it’s the way we actually played that’s the most important thing to carry on.’

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