Benni McCarthy on How Special Relationship with Jose Mourinho Saw Him Labelled ‘Daddy’s Boy’

Harambee Stars coach Benni McCarthy has revealed further details of his special relationship with Jose Mourinho.

McCarthy and Mourinho worked together at Portuguese giants FC Porto for one year during the 2023-04 season, when the South African legend scored 24 goals, as they won the league and Champions League, making him the first and still the only player from his country to win the prestigious trophy.

Mourinho got the best out of the former Ajax Amsterdam and Celta Vigo striker, making him one of the most revered forwards in Europe, and behind the goals was a strong relationship forged between player and coach which fueled the Bafana Bafana all-time top scorer.

PAY ATTENTION: Follow us on Google News, Stay informed with Latest Sport News

“He [Mourinho] knows the opponent probably better than he knows us but he was someone that just by looking at you through facial expression, he could see that there was something bothering you,” McCarthy revealed during the official launch of his biography in Johannesburg on Wednesday.

“That is how well he knew all his players and the fact that I was from South Africa, sometimes he would come and offer me Botho it was the South African special.”

McCarthy reminisces the strong bond he had with the Portuguese coach, who took him under his wings like his own son, showing him love and affection that he had not experienced since moving to Europe, first in the Netherlands with Ajax and then in Spain with Celta Vigo.

“I had a really great relationship and sometimes the players used to make fun; ‘daddy, daddy’s boy’ but I couldn’t help it,” he added. “I enjoyed it because I had a great time at Ajax but I was still a foreigner in a foreign country and I was treated like one.”

“I wasn’t Dutch; you African boy you are always last in the line for everything. That is what I went through.”

To show how dear Mourinho is to McCarthy, it is the former Real Madrid, Inter Milan, Chelsea and Manchester United manager who wrote the foreword of his biography titled ‘BENNI’ which was released last month.

The biography, co-authored by McCarthy and veteran football writer and commentator Mark Gleeson, documents his story from the gang-ridden streets of Hanover Park on the Cape Flats in Cape Town, South Africa to the grandest stages of world football.