After being goaded all evening by the Juventus fans, Jose Mourinho gave a little back by cupping his ear toward the braying masses after watching his Manchester United side somehow escape with a dramatic victory in the Champions League on Wednesday night.
Having gone a goal down to Cristiano Ronaldo’s monster volley, United fought back and eventually pilfered all three points via an 89th-minute Alex Sandro own-goal.
At the sound of the final whistle, Mourinho ventured out onto the pitch and made the international “I can’t hear you” gesture toward the Juve fans who he claimed had been insulting him and his family in “beautiful Italian” all night.
“Beautiful Italians insulted me for 90 minutes…” 🤷♂️
Manchester United boss Jose Mourinho explains his post-match celebrations 👀
🎙 @DesKellyBTS pic.twitter.com/C4yONWd2IG
— Football on BT Sport (@btsportfootball) 7 November 2018
Unfortunately, the sight of Mourinho antagonising opposing supporters was all too much for poor Graeme Souness and his gossamer-delicate sensibilities.
Souness, now entirely reformed from the hard-nosed git famed for his industrial shin-barking technique of yore, was left clutching his pearls when Mourinho cupped his ear, the anguish writ large across his face.
Appearing as a pundit on Virgin Media Ireland’s post-match, Souness whinnied that the United manager “could have started a riot” with his reckless behaviour.
It was then left to Mick McCarthy, the bluntest man in football, to remind his Scottish colleague of past transgressions, bluntly…
Graeme: “He could’ve caused a riot.”
Mick: “You’ve stuck the flag in the middle of the pitch in Turkey!”
Different views on Mourinho’s celebration 😂😂😂. #VMSport pic.twitter.com/5eX0HrjErD
— Virgin Media Sport (@VMSportIE) 7 November 2018
Mick’s not fibbing either. Souness very nearly brought an entire stadium to the brink of a frenzied stampede by celebrating Galatasaray’s Turkish Cup win over Fenerbahce in 1996 by plunging an enormous Gala flag into the centre spot of their bloodiest rivals.
He was then sacked two games later.
Not that he was ever much of a draw, but Souness as a pundit transcended into dull pastiche long ago.