Benni McCarthy reflects on how Jose Mourinho changed the course of his career by bringing him to FC Porto.
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The story
South African football legend and Manchester United Striker coach, Benni McCarthy took a trip down memory lane to look back on the time he worked with Jose Mourinho at FC Porto.
Benni is set to feature in a DAZN Portugal documentary series titled; "The Special Ones," which revisits FC Porto's historic UEFA Champions League triumph in 2004 under the mentorship of Jose Mourinho.
The former Bafana Bafana gunman played for Mourinho while on loan at Porto before he was signed on a permanent deal in 2003 from Celta Vigo.
Benni played a pivotal role in Porto's 2004 Champions League campaign. The memorable semi-final tie against Manchester United quickly comes to mind — with Mourinho sprinting down the Old Trafford touchline to celebrate the second-leg winner with his players, becoming an iconic moment in Europe's prestigious club competition.
"Mourinho said that now he has the final piece of the puzzle, that's been missing. He's got the player that he wanted and because of of this, the team is complete and FC Porto will win the Champions League. My heart literally sank, I looked at him in the interview room to say; 'Is he crazy or what?'" recounts McCarthy, who scored eight Champions League goals in his career.
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In an interview with The Athletic back in 2020, Benni got candid about how shocked he was with Mourinho's attention to detail at the time and how the legendary Portuguese coach made him cry in one of their first meetings:
"I arrived at Porto in 2001 in a bad state. I scored on my debut and we won, but then the manager [Octavio Machado] was sacked. I couldn't believe that the man who took me there got fired.
'This young guy replaced him and said: 'Benni, I know of you and I have watched you. I think you are a fantastic player and I want you to be my guy.' Then Jose Mourinho proceeded to tell me all about me. He knew everything; he'd watched my games at Celta.
"How did he have this information? Jose told me that I could always speak to him, even if it was to get something off my chest. I started crying, really. I thought 'Wow!' This had not happened to me in Europe.
"He was treating me like a son and I thought, 'I cannot disappoint this guy, he has given me the lifeline that I want.' I wanted to run through a brick wall for him."
???? Benni McCarthy: South African who conquered Europe ??#HBD || #UCL pic.twitter.com/Rf69oUOck4
— UEFA Champions League (@ChampionsLeague) November 12, 2022
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