Jose Mourinho sends heartfelt message to Claudio Ranieri after Leicester sacking
Jose Mourinho, the Manchester United manager, came out in support of Claudio Ranieri on Thursday night, hours after his counterpart was sacked by Leicester City.
The east Midlands club parted company with Ranieri just nine months after he guided a team tipped for relegation to the Premier League title in one of modern football’s greatest stories.
Ranieri’s departure was confirmed in a statement on the club’s official website, which claimed that “a change of leadership, while admittedly painful, is necessary in the club’s greatest interest.”
Mourinho joined the likes of Gary Lineker and Jamie Carragher in condemning the Leicester board’s decision, but also offered words of encouragement to his contemporary.
“CHAMPION OF ENGLAND and FIFA MANAGER of THE YEAR [Mourinho’s caps]. Sacked,” he wrote on his Instagram account, alongside a picture of the pair together earlier this season.
“That’s the new football Claudio. Keep smiling AMICO. Nobody can delete the history you wrote,” he added.
A post shared by Jose Mourinho (@josemourinho) on Feb 23, 2017 at 3:18pm PST
Ranieri follows Mourinho in losing his job the season after winning the Premier League.
The Portuguese was sacked by Chelsea in December 2015 following a defeat to Ranieri’s Leicester, despite lifting the league title with the west London club the previous May.
Mourinho replaced Ranieri at Stamford Bridge in 2004, when embarking upon his first spell in charge of Chelsea.
