Bafana Bafana legend and Cape Town City coach Benni McCarthy has had his fair share of working alongside some of football's most notable coaches, including Jose Mourinho. But did you know of the prank he and his teammates played on the "Special One"? He reveals all!
The former FC Porto striker, who recently celebrated his 40th birthday, hosted a live Instagram takeover on Soccer Laduma's account, where he interacted with his fans and participated in a question and answer session.
During the takeover, McCarthy was asked about the funniest thing he and his teammates did to Mourinho, and it involved water buckets, players chickening out, and the now Manchester United coach swearing.
Here's what happened:
"When we were at Porto, we had a couple of pranksters. We normally went on our team walk and after the walk, when the players were in their rooms, the coaches would go on another walk. Their own little Portuguese rituals that they had going on…
"After the walk, they would go the same way back. So we monitored their path. A few of us had bin buckets, so we filled it up with water.
"We all said we would do it (dump water on Mourinho), but everyone was crapping themselves. So when they came past our windows, we said on three and then we throw, but then we just stood there as he came…
"When Mourinho was under us – we were on the first floor – we all pulled back, except for the Brazilian Carlos Alberto – he just threw!
"Boom! He splashed him and… (breaks out laughing) and Mourinho just swore. I can't say what he said, but he swore! He looked up and said: 'Whoever that was, is gone!' He wanted him out of the team!
"When it came to the team talk, he asked who threw the bucket, and everyone looked at Carlos and no one said it. Carlos wasn't going to play; he wasn't in the starting line-up. Eventually, Carlos eventually stood up and said: 'Mister, I am sorry it was me.'
"Mourinho said: 'You, come sit this side.' We all thought he was finished, and then he went straight into the starting line-up! Then Mourinho said: 'All of you who chickened out, now you are on the bench.' He went and picked a whole new team!
"He said: 'Because you left your teammate hanging, you are benched.' So something that turned funny backfired on us.
"That was quality from the coach."
Can you imagine Mourinho's reaction when this happened?
