Jose Mourinho thinks this nation is ‘not going’ to win Euro 2024

Before the tournament officially begins this weekend, Jose Mourinho made an audacious prediction about Euro 2024.

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Jose Mourinho

The opening Euro match takes place at Bayern Munich’s Allianz Arena on Friday night, with hosts Germany playing Scotland.

England is favoured going into the competition as they attempt to snap a 58-year major title drought.

Several people predict that France, Germany, and Portugal will be among the other elite countries to go to the final stages of the competition and maybe win the trophy.

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Italy is the defending champion and will look to keep the trophy that they won at Wembley in 2020 after defeating England on penalties.

The Italian squad, which has seen major alteration since the previous European Championship, hasn’t impressed Mourinho, either.

Mourinho is convinced Italty are not favourties

Speaking to RTP Sport, the Portuguese manager said: “I am convinced that practically everyone thinks like me.

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“Portugal, England, France, followed by Germany and Spain. But Italy as European champions? I don’t believe that.

“Why can’t Italy defend their European title? ‘I don’t think they have enough talent to win the tournament, they won the last European Championship, but I don’t think they’ll do it again.”

Italy had a difficult time qualifying for this year’s tournament without important players like Giorgio Chiellini and Leonardo Bonucci. Following a 0-0 tie with Ukraine, Italy narrowly finished second in group C, behind England.

Furthermore, Mourinho is sceptical that the winners would advance this summer because they fell 1-0 to North Macedonia in the play-off semifinals, missing out on the Qatar World Cup 2022.

Rather, the recently appointed manager of Fenerbahce thinks his nation will win the European championship.

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He added: “I don’t want to be disrespectful to previous generations, but in terms of the depth and quality of the squad, we are probably the best team we have ever had and Portugal can win the European Championship.”

Portugal will have won the championship twice in the last three European Championships if they live up to Mourinho’s ambitions and do so this summer.

Should Portugal prevail in the championship game, long-serving stars Pepe and Cristiano Ronaldo would become the two oldest Euro winners ever.

By Shyam
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Shyam Sharma who joined SPORTS BIG NEWS in 2021. Focuses on soccer – chiefly the Premier League, LaLiga, UEFA Champions League, Liga MX and MLS. On occasion, also covers American sports, general news and entertainment. Fascinated by the language of sport – particularly the under-appreciated art of translating cliché-speak.