It is the Mourinho who spent an age talking to another long-term Chelsea employee Thresa Conneely on Monday, the one who chatted to his former player Joe Cole after arriving 90 minutes before kick-off, relaxed with his arm draped on the one-time England star’s shoulder as he engaged in easy conversation. The one who stopped and signed a young Chelsea fan’s shirt before he headed to the dressing room for his pre-match team talk.
“Of course I thank them,” said Mourinho, when asked of the supporter reaction.
“I did it on the pitch. I live around here. I talk with them every day on the street.
“I hope to come back here [Stamford Bridge] in 20 years with my grandkids.
“They [Chelsea] belong to my history and I belong to theirs.”
Yet Mourinho wants to win. You could tell that as he challenged decisions and demanded more from his players, patrolling the touchline as he has always done.
It seemed odd to hear him talk about how well his team had played in defeat, even if the odds were stacked against them by the huge gap in income between England’s Champions League contenders and those from Portugal.
He sat in the same dugout as when he was manager, though it does make you wonder why the club waited for Mauricio Pochettino to change them given what is now the home dugout straddles the halfway line.
It did mean he was nearer the Benfica fans though, as he produced another classic Mourinho moment in the second half.
Chelsea might have paid the Lisbon club a British record £107m to sign Argentina midfielder Enzo Fernandez two years ago, but the money clearly has no bearing on how his old club’s supporters think about him.
As he went to take a corner, Fernandez was bombarded by missiles from the upper and lower sections of the stands around him.
Mourinho saw what was happening, bounced out of his seat and took off down the touchline – a reminder of when he was Porto manager at Old Trafford and celebrated knocking Manchester United out of the Champions League in 2004.
The knee slide is beyond him now. Instead, he kept himself to angry waves, telling those supporters to stop.
They might not all have acted as he wished but the bombardment at least reduced long enough for Fernandez to take the corner.
Jose the peacemaker. Jose the friend.
Benfica didn’t win – and Chelsea weren’t that good – but Mourinho’s return was memorable all the same.
There will always be mutual respect around here.
