At a glance
- Managerial legend Jose Mourinho was Sir Bobby Robson’s number at FC Barcelona in the 1990s.
- They oversaw Ronald Nazario’s rise to global fame and eventual Ballon d’Or wins at Camp Nou.
- As Mourinho reveals, however, the two bickered once over the Brazilian’s involvement.
Jose Mourinho has revealed a historic dispute with Sir Bobby Robson over Ronaldo Nazario’s playing time at the Spotify Camp Nou.
Mourinho famously acted as the Englishman’s number two in Catalonia during the mid-to-late 1990s. That coincided with the arrival of Robson’s former PSV charge Ronaldo, who then went to put on one of the greatest individual seasons of all time with 47 goals across 49 games in 1996/1997.
Before that legendary campaign started, however, Ronaldo hadn’t done much of a preseason campaign with his new club due to having represented Brazil at the 1996 Olympic summer games.
“There’s a story with Ronaldo and with Mr. Robson. Ronaldo arrives a couple of days before we play the Spanish Super Cup against Atletico Madrid in Montjuic,” Mourinho explained in a documentary.
The Portuguese pointed out that Pizzi had been in great shape by scoring a number of goals in friendly matches.
Robson put his foot down on Ronald debuting with Barcelona
Robson apparently informed Mourinho that R9 would get the nod, which his understudy didn’t agree with.
“We have to be careful with the group. Pizzi is scoring goals, we should put Ronaldo on the bench,” Mourinho warned.
“At that moment, Robson turns to me and says: ‘But do you want to win the Spanish Super Cup or not?’,” Mourinho recalled.
“Yes, I do”, he replied. “Then, if you want, shut your mouth and Ronaldo plays,” Robson balked.
Robson got it right for Barcelona
With Robson having the last word, Ronaldo started alongside the likes of fellow former Ballon d’Or winners Luis Figo and Hristo Stoichkov.
R9 needed just five minutes to score and bagged a brace in a 5-2 first leg win over Atleti. The Rijoblancos won the second leg 3-1, but Barca pulled off a 6-4 aggregate win and therefore sealed the trophy.
Later that campaign, a trebe was completed with the Copa del Rey and Cup Winners’ Cup for the Catalans. Unfortunately, the short-sighted sale of Ronaldo to Inter Milan meant that the group never managed the La Liga title and Champions League crowns.
But still, as said, they got to enjoy one of the greatest individual campaigns from Ronaldo before he moved on. As for Mourinho, he went onto become a legendary head coach and found himself linked to the Barca manager’s spot.
Severing ties with the club forever by occupying the Real Madrid hotseat in the early 2010s, however, he is now forever known to Culers as “the translator” for Robson.
