José Mourinho has joked that he may not be alive by the time the Manchester City case is finally resolved. The Real Madrid manager told the Italian newspaper Corriere dello Sport that he preferred to see the funny side, saying: “I would rather laugh about it.”
Mourinho, who is in his 60s, suggested the process still has a long way to run. “I think we will eventually get an ending, but we are both in our 60s and we’ll need to be lucky enough to still be around when the final verdict arrives,” he said. “There will be a verdict, then appeals, then more appeals.”
Speaking at his press conference in Spain, Mourinho also came to the defence of Kylian Mbappé after the Real Madrid striker was pictured at a nightclub in Paris and riding a bike in Switzerland while he recovers from a knee injury. “Are these criticisms over the top? They are ridiculous,” Mourinho said. “All the players who were obliged to be present every day for their recovery were here.”
The manager explained the forward’s movements were part of his treatment. “Mbappé came, like the others, to undergo scans in order to be diagnosed,” he said. “He then went to see a specialist in France, because he has history with his knee which we cannot ignore.”
The Manchester City case is back in the spotlight as the Premier League season resumes, with Enzo Maresca due to face the media at the Etihad Campus in Manchester.